‘Opaka Tagging Program
■ A program to tag bottom fish is already showing signs of remarkable success. The Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) has tagged over 1,200 ‘opakapaka and already recovered 150, about 12½percent.
Contrast that with the recovery, rates for tagged billfish. Off Australia, over 12,500 black marlin have been tagged with roughly the same number, 140, recovered.
Being pelagic, billfish move around a lot more, of course, which may explain the big difference in recovery rates. Bottom fish tend to stay around the same feeding grounds.
The ‘paka in the DAR study ranged from under a pound to over 5 and were released off O’ahu, Moloka‘i and Lana‘i. If any of those were to turn up too far from home, it would be very big news because…