Earlier this month we spent a week in Conne River on the Bay D’Espoir Estuary working on the Coastal Environmental Baseline Program where we collected water quality samples and tagged American eel with Acoustic tags and Visual Implant Elastomer Tags!

Acoustic Tags are surgically implanted while the eel is under sedation. Each acoustic tag transmits a high-frequency sound which is picked up by several acoustic receivers positioned around the Bay D’Espoir estuary, receivers can then locate the eels position in the estuary. Each acoustic tag is unique, meaning we can track the movement of individual American eel while they feed, and hopefully, we may even capture a migration out to the Sargasso Sea to their breeding grounds this fall!

Visual Identifier Elastomer (VIE) Tags are made of an elastomer that is injected as liquid beneath translucent tissue so that when the elastomer solidifies the tag remains externally visible. For the eels in the Bay D’Espoir estuary each of the eel fishing sites has a different colour of VIE tag so we can track movement around the estuary through a mark and recapture study! While we are not in Conne River, our colleagues Miawpukek Mi’kamawey Mawi’omi are VIE tagging eels and keeping track of recaptures.