17-39-MMS| June 23, 2017
BILOXI, Miss. – Employees at the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources are tagging Red Drum to learn more about them, and they are asking for help from local fishermen.
By the end of July, MDMR is planning to tag 20 of these fish in the Back Bay of Biloxi and hope to tag more later this year.
MDMR is placing an acoustic transmitter in the stomach cavity of the fish and a blue external dart tag under the dorsal fin. If an angler catches a tagged fish, they should report the individual tag number and release the fish.
“Red Drum is one of the most popular sportfish species that we have in the Gulf,” said Wade Hardy, fisheries scientist for MDMR. “We want to define their movements and the relationship between environmental conditions and stages of their life cycle.
“We are particularly interested in their movement patterns as juveniles mature and become spawning capable before moving out of the bays and estuaries,” he said.
The Red Drum hotline is 1-844-704-2359, and anglers also are asked to report the length, weight and location of the catch.
Photo courtesy MS Department of Marine Resources
Fisheries scientists with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources are tagging Red Drum in the Biloxi Back Bay to learn more about their movements.
The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources is dedicated to enhancing, protecting and conserving marine interests of the state by managing all marine life, public trust wetlands, adjacent uplands and waterfront areas to provide for the optimal commercial, recreational, educational and economic uses of these resources consistent with environmental concerns and social changes. Visit the DMR online at dmr.ms.gov.
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