Do Tags Exceeding 2% of Total Body Weight Impair Lake Sturgeon Movement?

A common guideline for attaching or imbedding transmitters for fish is that the transmitter weight should not exceed 2% of the total weight in air of a fish. This guideline is thought to limit the negative effects of tagging, but little research supports it. Our objectives were to compare the postrelease dispersal rates of 48 hatchery-reared fingerling Lake SturgeonAcipenser fulvescens(265–305 mm, 80–100 g) surgically implanted with sonic transmitters equating to 2% and 4% of fish body weight, and to compare the dispersal rates between fish stocked in two river systems in Wisconsin. Downstream dispersal rates of the 2% and 4% treatments were not significantly different within the individual rivers but were significantly different between rivers. We recommend that transmitters weighing up to 4% of total body weight can be used without effects on the movement of fingerling Lake Sturgeon. Received January 6, 2015; accepted June 29, 2015 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]