THOMAS R. REINERT, MICHAEL J. VAN DEN AVYLE, AND JULIE E. WALLIN, Georgia Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit, D.B. Warnell School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2152, USA

We evaluated efficiency and economy of oxytetracycline (OTC) immersion, coded-wire tags (CWT), and internal anchor tags for marking juvenile striped bass Morone saxatilis stocked in an estuarine enhancement program. Anchor tags require no investment in major equipment, are easily retrieved and decoded, and do not require sacrificing the recaptured fish. However, labor and material costs for applying tags are high, long-term tag retention is relatively poor (20% at age-3), and fish must be cultured to relatively large sizes. For CWT, application requires relatively expensive equipment, moderate labor and material costs, and fish typically exceeding 50mm in length. However, retention exceeds 90% for age-1 and older fish, and decoding requires little time and a microscope. Marking with OTC requires relatively little time and cost, however, retrieval of OTC information is expensive because of labor and equipment costs. OTC has relatively poor rates of mark retention (80% for age-1 and older) and detection 75%. The use of CWT and OTC requires sacrificing the recaptured fish. Results of this study identify trade-offs that should be considered when choosing marking methods to be used in a stock enhancement program.