Effects of Carlin tagging on the mortality and growth of anadromous Arctic char, Salvelinus alpinus (L.)

Abstract. In the River Vardnes, in northern Norway, 4162 first time migrants and 996 older migrants of Arctic char, Salvelinus alpinus (L.), were tagged when descending and 682 were tagged when ascending. All migrating fish were tagged individually when they were caught for the first time. Tagging reduced the sea survival rate of the first-time migrants by at least 28.8%. A high rate of tag loss is indicated. Tagging had no measurable negative effect on the survival of the larger-sized char. No effect of tagging on either the seasonal or the daily growth-rates was recorded.