According to SCEMFIS, the recently announced pilot study will test whether PIT tagging can help answer some of those unresolved questions. There will be two main components: First, controlled studies would be conducted at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) to determine whether inserting PIT tags affects fish survival. In these trials, some fish would be tagged and others would not, allowing scientists to compare outcomes under the same conditions.

Second, the research team will work with Reedvillebased Ocean Harvesters to test whether tagged fish can be reliably detected during real-world fishing operations. The team is scheduled to meet with Ocean Harvesters on May 12 to begin planning field trials.

That work will include determining where to place the detection equipment— whether in fishing gear or at Omega Protein’s processing facilities—and placing known numbers of tagged fish into catches and trying to reliably gather data in the actual harvest-to-processing pipeline.

If successful, the approach could provide information on how many fish are being caught, how long they stay in the Bay, and how large the local population may be— questions that have been central to ongoing debates about management.

SCEMFIS says PIT tagging is just one of several possible tools under consideration as part of the roadmap effort.

The roadmap research effort is being conducted by experts from the Batten School of Coastal and Marine Sciences & VIMS at William & Mary, the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and NOAA.

SCEMFIS, which is supported by the National Science Foundation, operates as a cooperative research center between university and industry participants. The organization has a list of industry partners, including Ocean Harvesters and Omega Protein, and academic partners such as the University of Southern Mississippi and VIMS.