Adopt A Fish Program

Tom Grothues releasing striper.

Scientists have known since the 1930s that striped bass move north in the summer and south in the winter. But because they could not visually monitor the fish migrations, they couldn't gather data about the movement of the fish. Now, with the aid of new technologies, researchers at the Rutgers University Marine Field Station are able to learn more about what types of habitats fish need to survive and when they need them.

The "Adopt a Fish" program extends the excitement of these new technologies to anyone interested in these fish and their habitats. Through this program, striped bass have been adopted and named by individuals, fishing clubs, educational institutions, and kids. They all keep track of their adopted fish on the website, StriperTracker.org.

An acoustic transmitter (tag) is surgically implanted in each fish that is part of the research project. The tags send individualized messages to underwater microphones (hydrophones), which relay the signals back to the Rutgers University Marine Field Station. In addition, the researchers track the fish by boat.

Each time the signal from the fish is detected, the time and place of the signal is posted on the website. If the fish happen to be caught, they are usually released back into the water, as requested on a tag attached to the exterior of the fish. Oftentimes, the person who caught the fish also reports its whereabouts to Rutgers.

"As people monitor their adopted fish on the website, they are getting an up-close perspective on a marine science research project," said Ken Able, director of the Rutgers Marine Field Station. "Each fish adoption enables us to increase the number of fish in the study and to learn more about them," added Tom Grothues, the co-investigator on this project.