Digital Angel, an advanced technology company in the field of animal identification and emergency identification solutions, announced that its Destron Fearing unit has been awarded $745,000 in a contract modification and replacement equipment orders with the Portland, Oregon-based Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), a federal agency under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) technology.
The $615,000 contract modification extends the Company's participation in a project currently underway to develop a PIT-tag system for monitoring salmonids using the spillways at hydroelectric projects. The modification is for the development and installation of a multiple antenna reader system for Ice Harbor Dam in the state of Washington. The purchase order for $130,000 is for replacement of existing installed readers.
Joseph J. Grillo, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Angel, said: "These new Destron Fearing awards demonstrate the confidence placed by the DOE, other federal agencies, and the fisheries community in our technical expertise. Since the late 1980s, Digital Angel has worked with the BPA and federal Columbia and Snake River hydroelectric projects to develop, manufacture, and install implantable RFID systems for monitoring the native salmon population, a vital resource to the local community. We are proud to be a part of this ongoing effort."
In its work with the BPA, Destron Fearing employs PIT technology in conjunction with RFID antennas to monitor salmonid movement as they migrate out of their native streams and pass the dams in the Columbia and Snake River Basins in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The salmonid populations' vulnerability to habitat loss, hydroelectric dams, and over-fishing makes BPA's monitoring program a crucial element in their survival. Digital Angel's ground-breaking technology allows the BPA to effectively monitor the local salmon population as they migrate through a river system that encompasses an elaborate network of dams and tributaries.
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