ULUA TAGGING PROJECT

State of HawaiiDepartment of Land & Natural Resources

Division of Aquatic Resources

Angler Based

Tags

Releases

Captures

Tagging Kit Components

FIRST-CLASS MAILBUSINESS REPLY MAIL

HONOLULU HIPOSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

NO POSTAGENECESSARY

IF MAILEDIN THE

UNITED STATES

ULUA TAGGING PROJECT

DEPT OF LAND & NATURAL RESOURCES

1151 PUNCHBOWL ST RM 330

HONOLULU HI 96813-9981

PERMIT NO. 2397

Please record information and return by mail when all tags have been usedNO POSTAGE NECESSARY

ULUA TAGGING DATA

DATE TAG NO. SPECIESFORK

LENGTH(inches)

TIMECAUGHT

LOCATIONCAUGHT/

RELEASED

Please check here to request more tags Quantity ___________

Data Return Card

Recovery Information

4. Fork Length

5. Time Caught6. Location Caught

1. Tag Number

2. Date Recovered3. Species

(*Optional Step)

7. Re-release gently

Dear

Thank you for your participation in the Aquatic Resources’ “Ulua Tagging Project”. Fishermen’s supportand concern is essential to the success of this project. The information gathered through this project willhelp improve and strengthen resources for future generations to enjoy.

All fishermen who participate in this program whether tagging or in recovery of fish will be giveninformation pertaining to that particular fish. Periodic recaps of the project will be published in our“Current Line” newsletter available at various sporting goods stores or published in the Hawaii FishingNews. In the near future we plan to establish a web site in conjunction with the DLNR web page.

Tagging information for Tag No. Species:P9180 omilu

TaggedBy

DateTagged

ForkLengthTagged(inches)

LocationTagged

CaughtBy

DateCaught

LocationCaught

DaysFree

DistanceTraveled(miles)

Growth(inches)

ForkLengthCaught(inches)

Garrett Arii

January 29, 2004

release

6/20/2003 Bishop Pt.,Hickam AFB

13 0 1EdwinWatanabe

6/7/2003 BishopPt.,

Hickam

8.5 9.5 John Bellino

7/21/2003 Bishop Pt.,Hickam AFB

31 0 .625JohnBellino

6/20/2003 BishopPt.,

Hickam

9.5 10.125 BobTakeuchi

1/12/2004 Hickam pier 175 0 2.875BobTakeuchi

7/21/2003 BishopPt.,

Hickam

10.125 13 Garrett Arii

Again thank you for your time and effort on this project. If you should have any questions or would likemore information, please feel free to call Annette Tagawa or Clay Tam at (808) 587-0593 with the Divisionof Aquatic Resources’ “Ulua Tagging Project”. Have a great fishing season!

Sincerely,

Annette TagawaUlua Tagging Project Coordinator

To gather information on the following:

- Determine movement/migration and habitat patterns of all species of ulua, papio and kahala

- Update growth curve information.

- Size distribution of fish caught and/or released by fishermen

- Stock distribution based on the numbers of fish tagged andrecovered

Project Goals

Volunteer Anglers Recruited by Fiscal Year

32

112

186

342

218

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

FY 00 FY 01 FY 02 FY 03 FY 04

Volunteer Taggers

Total Number of Volunteer Fishermen as

of December 2003

645

96

116 33

Oahu

Big Island

Maui CountyKauai

Total = 890 Volunteer Anglers

Tag Distribution and Numbers of Fish Tagged by Fiscal Year

997

2709 2826

8459

6077

198906 1349

4792

3059

01000

20003000

400050006000

70008000

9000

10000

FY 00 FY 01 FY 02 FY 03 FY 04

Tags Distributed Numbers of Fish Tagged

Total Tags Distributed

as of December 2003

21,068

Numbers of Fish Tagged at each Island Locale as of December 2003

150

376

6787

21 1554

1364

Big IslandMaui CountyKauaiOahuPenguin BanksNWHI

Total Numbers of Fish Tagged as of December 2003Species Num ber of Fi sh

TaggedSi ze Ranges

Tagge d (ForkLength inches)

Number of Fi shRecovered

Kahala 1572 6 to 65 126

Whi te 2602 4.5 to 58.5 439

Omilu 5419 4 to 40 1069

Butag uchi 53 9.5 to 36.5 0

Papa 144 8 to 26.5 11

Gungkan 4 28 to 34.5 0

Kagam i 20 3.75 to 32 2

Menpachi(Bigeye)

182 6 to 17 14

Barred Jack 78 5.75 to 21 23

Paopao 37 6 to 21 10

Dobe 5 9.5 to 13 0

Misc. Jacks 32 6.75 to 24.5 1

TOT AL FISHTA GGED

10148 TOTAL FISHRE COVERED as

of 11/30/03

1695(=16.7%)

2002 Size Class Recruitment of Omilu and White Ulua/Papio Along the Shoreline

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

Month

4 to 6 inch 7 to 8 inch 9 inch and overamm oama

2002 Oama Run

Monthly Growth Rates of Omilu at 4.5 to 13 inches FL

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Months

oamasmall bait

2003

2002 2001

Average

Number of Fish Caught and Releasedduring Two-hour Periods of the Tide

Percent of fish that were

caught and

tagged in this 12-hour

period of the

tide change

HighTide

LowTide

Tide

21% 23%

5% 4%

37% 10%

0 hours 12 hours6 hours

12-Hour Tide Change

A L AM O A N A

LAIE PT

AINA HAINAM A K A P U U

LANIKAI

K A N E O H E

BAY

BARBERS PT.

NANAKULI

OAHU

Notable Movement Patterns of Omilu and White Papio

14.3 miles

27 miles

32 miles

6.75 miles

14.75 miles

KEEHI

Size Range of Fish RecoveredOmilu - 10.5” to 14” Fork LengthWhite Papio - 9.5” to 18” Fork Length

16 miles

M A K U A24.8

miles

M O K U L E I A

39.3 miles

KAENA PT.

38 miles

March to SeptemberSeptember to March

General Movement Patterns of Omilu and White Papio on the Island of Oahu

OAHU

Clockwise Counter-

clockwise

• Combined tagging efforts of volunteer anglers produces a large volume of tagged fish providing a large amount of data that can be used to assess the ulua and papio resources at minimal cost.

• Project provides common ground for both fishing and scientific communities to work together toward building a better resource for everyone.

• Management decisions are more easily supported/accepted by fishermen. They become part of the process by gathering information and data that they know and trust will impact management decisions that will best support their fishery. It’s a win-win situation.

Management Benefits

Future Goals• Increase recruiting effort for more volunteer anglers on all neighbor

islands.

• Gather more information on all other species of ulua, papio, and kahala, especially on the neighbor islands to assess the differences, if any , among species composition and distribution.

• Continue to assess the use of recovery data to monitor the conditions of nearshore resources.

• Expand the targeted species as requested by volunteer anglers.

• Expand general support to accommodate increasing public demands for continuous growth of the Ulua Tagging Project.

• As the project continues to grow and larger numbers of fish are being tagged, this opens the door for further research into determining standing stocks, exploitation rates, and spatial distribution of fishing efforts.