NEWPORT NEWS, VA. --- Attention saltwater anglers: The Virginia Marine Resources Commission wants your fish carcasses. You catch it, you fillet it, but instead of throwing the remains in the trash, please donate them to science.
"This is something that will help us to help our important recreational fishing industry here in Virginia," said VMRC Commissioner Steve Bowman. "These carcasses will give us valuable information."
In the first weeks of July, freezers to collect these donations will be placed at some of the more popular bait and tackle shops around the Chesapeake Bay region, as part of the new Marine Sportfish Collection Project. The project will focus on species of fish that are difficult to collect through the agency’s normal sampling program. Anglers are asked to donate their filleted carcasses (head and tail intact) of fresh-caught cobia, spadefish, sheepshead, red and black drum, tilefish and grouper.
Scientists want to study the length, age, and sex of the fish. The information will help the state agency assess the health of these fish populations without collecting large numbers of live fish to study. As a result, this project will leave more fish out there for you to catch next time.
The age of the fish will be determined by analyzing the rings of the otolith, a small bone that develops rings of variable growth in the summer and winter, similar to the growth of rings in trees. In return for participating in the project, the agency will provide a free tee-shirt that sports a fish skeleton around a VMRC logo. "Everyone who has seen one wants one," said Bowman. "They are quite an attention-getter and wearing one will promote an important scientific project." Also, VMRC will post specific information about your donated fish on the agency’s website, including information on the sex and age of your catch.
The freezers will be placed at Wallace’s Bait and Tackle in Hampton; Long Bay Pointe Marina in Virginia Beach; and Chris’ Bait and Tackle in Capeville. Additional sites are being sought, particularly one for the Northern Neck/Middle Peninsula region.
