Fish Travels 150 Miles With Computer in Belly

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — One fisherman’s catch was a researcher’s dream when Larry Mattson hauled in a high-tech lake trout with a computer in its belly.

Mattson cut the fish open to find a computer the size of a pinky, and called a phone number on a tag on the fish’s back. That made researcher Bill Mattes very happy.

Mattes, a fisheries biologist for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, said it was only the eighth such computer returned among 124 planted in November 2001 by the commission, which represents eleven Ojibwe tribes dedicated to protecting natural resources.

It’s the first time the new microcomputers have been used inside fish to record depth and temperature.

He recovered 19 months of data from the computer. It had been recording the depth and water temperature every 15 seconds, and will tell researchers what kind of water the lake trout like, and what temperature they spend their time in.

“This is huge for us. The (computer) tag is worth about $400. But it’s the data inside that’s the most valuable,” Mattes said.

The lake trout originally were caught in nets in Traverse Bay, on the east side of the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan. They were anesthetized, and surgeons placed the computers inside before they were set free.

So far, five trout have been caught and returned by commercial netters and three by sport anglers like Mattson. Most have been caught within five miles of where they were originally netted, but one fish swam all the way to Ontario. Mattson’s fish swam more than 150 miles – to the western end of Lake Superior, sometimes reaching depths of 400 feet.

“We know they move around in the lake. But this is unusual. We really don’t know why it came this far,” Mattes said.

The project was funded with a $55,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

As for Mattson, he ate the fish before realizing he was supposed to return the whole thing to Mattes. Mattson still got a $100 reward for returning the computer.

—–

On the Net:

More science, space, and technology from RedNova

Copyright © 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.