Astoria, OR – According to the state officials, the goal is to tag “kelts”, the fish that already successfully spawned and are heading back to sea.
Unlike Pacific salmon, steelhead can spawn multiple times and have a much broader ocean distribution.
Steelhead are rarely encountered in commercial fisheries like salmon are, so much less is known about their distribution, migration routes, depth at sea, and more.
Although this work is not a broadscale multi-year research project, it will provide this information, adding to biological knowledge of Rogue-South Coast winter steelhead. It is also the first winter steelhead satellite tagging of kelts in Oregon.
Tags are programmed for 180 days of data collection and will transmit position, temperature, and depth when a tag comes close enough to the surface. Satellite tags must be near the water’s surface to transmit data.
Anglers are reminded all radio tagged fish must be immediately released unharmed.
