In this segment we will cover the history of fish tagging from its origins in the early 1600’s up to modern day shark tagging projects. For centuries humans have tried to develop non-destructive ways of monitoring the movements and dynamics of fish populations largely for the purpose of fisheries management, it was this need that drove the development of tagging early projects. Nowadays tagging projects operate worldwide in order to provide data for fisheries management and conservation.
In part 1 of this segment we will discuss the origins of fish tagging …

In part 2 of the “History of Tagging” segment we look at the development and use of electronic tags.
The development of electronic tags opened up a wide range of new possibilities and allowed more detailed behavioural studies on short-term movements, migrations, diving behaviour and habitat use. Sharks in particular were identified as strong candidates for electronic tagging programmes due to their size, robustness and the toughness of their skin allowing external tags to be firmly anchored. To date electronic tags have been used to monitor the behaviour of many species …

In comparison to fish tagging as a whole, shark tagging is a relatively recent activity. Shark tagging really began with the development of plastic Peterson disc and dart tags; before 1940 only 1,005 elasmobranchs had been tagged and released in UK waters, by 1950 shark tagging projects were well established in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and tens of thousands of sharks had been tagged.
Early elasmobranch tagging projects were generally focused on spurdog (Squalus acanthias) and tope (Galeorhinus galeus) with a view to improving fisheries management measures. The development …