| Controlled experiments were conducted to assess the effects of T-bar and DST tagging on post-release survival and growth of European hake. In this study, two groups of each 30 hake were considered: small fish (SF, average total length: 29.9 cm +/- 2.2 cm) and large fish (LF, average total length: 36.4 cm +/- 2.5 cm). Within each size group, fish were randomly assigned to one of 3 treatment groups: control (C), T-bar tagging referred as conventional tagging (CT) and DST tagging (DST) with dummy tags. After 4 months, the overall survival rate was 35%. Smaller fish were less impacted by the stress induced by handling, anaesthesia and tagging and in the SF group, the survival rates were similar (30%) for CT or DST. Specific growth rates were highly variable... |
