A controlled experimental assessment of intraperitoneal PIT tag injection on survival of Blueback Herring

Objective Passive integrated transponder (PIT) telemetry is commonly used to monitor fish movements and behavior. To reduce inferential bias in PIT telemetry studies, it is important to quantify the effects of tagging procedures on fish survival. To this end, we conducted a controlled experiment to test the hypothesis that intraperitoneal injection of 23‐mm PIT tags would have no effect on the survival of adult Blueback Herring Alosa aestivalis. Methods We compared mortality rates of tagged and untagged Blueback Herring (n = 174; size range 202–277 cm) that were retained in experimental tanks for 14 days. Result We observed no difference in the probability of survival between tagged (50% survival) and untagged (42%) groups. Conclusion These results suggest that intraperitoneal tag injection is a safe and effective method of PIT tagging adult Blueback Herring and supports the use of this technique in field telemetry studies. Impact statement While PIT telemetry is frequently used to monitor fish movements and behavior, few studies have evaluated the effect of tagging procedures on fish survival. By comparing the survival of control and treatment groups retained in experimental tanks for 14 days, this study found that intraperitoneal injection of 23‐mm PIT tags had a negligible effect on the survival of Blueback Herring.