Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin
Volume 43, Number 1, Winter 2011
By Susanna Musick
Marine Recreation Specialist Jon Lucy retired in June after 38 years of service with VIMS and the Marine Advisory Program. Working with Claude Bain of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), Lucy cofounded the Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program. This angler-assisted research program trains recreational fishermen to collect scientific data about the fish they pursue. As Jon’s successor, I joined him on a tagging trip in November on the Elizabeth River. We had a spectacular day for fishing and succeeded in tagging more than a dozen fish. I took the opportunity to ask Jon about his experience with the tagging program.
SM: Why do you think anglers participate in the program?
JL: [They’re] usually people who fish a lot and are curious about where the fish they catch go within a fishing season and from season to season. Serious anglers already have a feel for the patterns of fish they target…a basic understanding of the dynamics of the fish. The tagging program gives them concrete information about the fish.
SM: What is the most important thing we can learn from the program?
JL: First, anglers can collectively produce usable data of significance for recreationally important fish species.
Second, it gives the Virginia angling community a sense of getting something back for their saltwater fishing license fees—and that’s probably why we’ve been able to keep interest in the program.
Third, the program has provided data for management of flounder. The data have also been used for better management of tautog, red drum, and speckled trout (in North Carolina).
SM:Â Do you have a favorite species of game fish?
JL: Spotted seatrout! Cynoscion nebulosus…that rascally fish has given me gray hair. Next would be puppy drum because I have learned to catch the suckers, and I can stick a tag in them in a flash!
SM: What has been the most rewarding part of the tagging program?
JL: The best part has been being a cooperator with a state agency (VMRC) on an angler-assisted tagging program that has proven to accomplish the objectives we hoped to achieve. It has been extremely gratifying to work and interact with some of the behind-the-scenes leaders in Virginia’s angling community and experience the quality of people in the program. It’s also allowed me to quantify interest from the angling community. I’ve been impressed with the time and interest shown by anglers in the program because tagging takes time away from catching fish. (You don’t have your hook and line in the water as often.) Anglers have told me that being in the tagging program has helped them learn to fish better and be more consistent in their fishing effort, and I would agree with them.
Susanna Musick, a native of Gloucester, Virginia, joins the Marine Advisory Program after working as head of the Ascension Island Government Conservation Department. In this role, she managed multiple research and education programs about sea turtles, sea birds, land crabs, marine mammals, and recreational fishing.
