NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Marine biologists are trying to learn whether they can increase populations of two of the Gulf of Mexico’s most popular sport and food fish — and perhaps further relax quotas on one of them — by raising and releasing small fry.

Hundreds of thousands of spotted seatrout, known locally as speckled trout or specks, and thousands of red snapper fingerlings have been released in recent years, all identifiable by tiny wire tags. The problem is finding them again.