The first scientific campaign to tag and monitor the long-finned albacore (Thunnus alalunga) by means of pop-up satellite tags kicked off on 1 June at the port of Hondarribia. This initiative has the funding of the Department for the Environment, Spatial Planning, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Government of the Basque Autonomous Community. It is designed to obtain information on the migration and behaviour of this species in order to contribute towards a comprehensive evaluation and formulation of the Scientific Council on the management of temperate tuna fish resources (long-finned albacore and northern bluefin tuna) in the waters of the Bay of Biscay.

Organised by AZTI-Tecnalia, the campaign is set to take place during the summer months while the tuna fishing season is ongoing in the waters of the Atlantic. Two researchers from the technology centre will be joining two inshore fishing vessels in order to fit transmitters onto the backs of several tuna and to surgically implant several internal electronic tags; even though it has been demonstrated in previous campaigns that this intramuscular embedding is a viable method with minimum repercussions on the behaviour of the fish, it is the first time that an attempt will be made to tag this species with this type of individual satellite tag; proceeding with the utmost care will be crucial for the success of the campaign.

Although fixed tags allow fairly detailed information to be obtained on the position and movements of the fish (with variables like pressure -depth-, temperature -internal and external-, and ambient light), their main limitation is that the fish needs to be recovered for the data to be accessed. Pop-up tags, by contrast, increase the probability of recovering the data since they are automatically detached, and when they reach the surface they broadcast their information via satellite to the control hub. The tags function for between 4 and 9 months and gather and store information all within a device weighing 40g which can withstand 150 atmospheres and the fast swimming of the tuna.

To encourage the recovery of the tags, the programmes that carry out the tagging of tuna have established a type of reward. It is clear that for a tagging programme to succeed, it is essential to have the collaboration not only of anglers but also of the industry in the recovery of the tags. That is why AZTI-Tecnalia is developing this project in collaboration with the fishing sector, which is enabling it to progress towards acquiring better knowledge of fish species behaviour, and put our community in the international sphere of research in this field. There has also been collaboration since 2001 with angling clubs and with the 7th Euskadi Cup for responsible fishing in order to foster responsible fishing.

Tagging is a technique with which AZTI-Tecnalia has achieved great successes to date. So, for example, in August 2009 an electronic tag that revealed that a tagged tuna had been diving to depths of over 1,000 metres was recovered. In 2007, an angler in Massachusetts recaptured a tuna that had been tagged two years previously by a vessel based at the marina in Hondarribia. Apart from specific examples, over the last decade over 5,000 specimens have been tagged using conventional tags, not only in catch and release competitions, but also during the routine activity of leisure craft. This collaboration with recreational anglers has involved over one hundred craft.