RFID Antenna To Catch Fish By Claire Swedberg

March 14, 2006

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•Article: RFID Antenna To Catch Fish

RFID use in Columbia fish tracking is about to reach new depths. Digital Angel Corp. is developing an antenna that will read radio frequency identification tags in Pacific Northwest juvenile salmon as they pass through large chutes on their way to the Pacific Ocean, moving as fast as 60 miles per hour.

In the 1980s, with the population of salmon dwindling in the Columbia Basin, the National Marine Fisheries Services and the Bonneville Power Authority (BPA) took an interest in fish tracking via RFID. That kind of tracking was already underway with livestock, and some officials realized the same might work for salmon and steelhead, another endangered river fish.

With eight dams built on the Columbia River, running through Idaho, Washington and Oregon, environmentalists and recreational fisherman wanted the declining salmon population addressed. Since federally owned BPA manages one of the largest of these dams, they were the first to fund salmon-tracking research.

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Claire Swedberg is a freelance journalist, published author and writing instructor in La Conner, Washington. She has been a contributing writer for RFID Journal for the past two years.