Overview of the conventional tagging program of the Cooperative Tagging Center, Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (1954–2021)

The conventional tagging information summarized here are comprised of data from the National Marine Fisheries Service’(NMFS), Southeast Fisheries Science Center’s Cooperative Tagging Center (1954-2021), The tagging from The Billfish Foundation, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources’ Marine Gamefish Tagging Program, the NMFS/Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Shark Tagging Program, and several other programs also archive their data annually in our database but are not included in this summary. The tag release and recapture files were examined relative to providing an updated overview of historic tagging efforts. The evolution of the practices developed, employed, and recommended to participating fishing constituents is described here based on trends in tagging activities in this program.