The Striped Bass Program of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) has monitored the size and age composition, sex ratio and maturity schedules of the spawning striped bass stock in the Rappahannock River since 1981. In conjunction with the monitoring studies, VIMS established a tagging program in 1988 to provide information on the migration, relative contribution to the coastal population, and annual survival of striped bass that spawn in the Rappahannock River. This program is part of an active cooperative tagging study that currently involves 15 state and federal agencies along the Atlantic coast. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) coordinate the program.