Anglers tagging and marking fish: Provincial and state fishery agency views

In recent years, the involvement of anglers in fish tagging programs has be gun to capture the interest of managers. I conducted a mail survey of provi ncial and state fishery agencies to discern where anglers could legally tag , mark, or attach telemetry devices to fish. In addition, I documented curr ent provincial and state agency views toward fish tagging or marking by ang lers. Anglers were allowed to tag or mark fish in most ? provinces and stat es; however, more restrictions were placed on marking and telemetering fish than on tagging. Of the issues covered in this survey, respondents indicat ed that fish mortality and fish injury were the most serious problems assoc iated with fish tagging or marking by anglers; the next most serious proble m was interference with agency studies. Provincial and state agencies in ch arge of saltwaters tended to agree that valuable data are obtained from ang ler-based fish tagging or marking activities and that these activities prom oted positive public relations; agencies in charge of freshwaters tended to disagree with these statements.