NMT, Inc. was founded in 1971 by Dr. Keith B. Jefferts, President. The company develops and manufactures sophisticated mechanical and electronic devices primarily used to identify fishes, and various other aquatic animals (e.g., crustaceans, mollusks, amphibians). NMT tags/marks are characterized by being small, benign implants.
The corporate office is on Shaw Island, Washington, with satellite offices in Seattle and Olympia, Washington. The European/African office is in Great Britain (Dr. David Solomon). The Asian representative is the Tanaka Sanjiro Company, Ltd, Ogori-City, Japan (Mr. Yong Huang).
The Binary Coded Wire Tag (CWT), NMT's first product, quickly revolutionized the marking/tagging of Pacific salmon to the extent that by 1974, "more information about ocean distribution , and the numbers of fish from hatcheries in specific fisheries, was gathered in 12 months than had been gathered in the previous 12 years." (Childerhose and Trim 1979). This development enabled fisheries managers to evaluate the performance of juvenile fish including newly emergent fry (Smoker and Thrower 1984). Since then the versatility of the coded wire tag for identifying other fishes, crustaceans, mollusks, amphibians, and reptiles has been clearly demonstrated.
The binary codes, etched on fragments of implanted wire as small as 0.5 x 0.25 mm diameter, must be read from dissected tags. NMT has also developed Visible Implant Tags that are read in situ through transparent or translucent tissue. Visible implants either bear alphanumerics (VI Alpha) or utilize codes based upon different colored fluorescent elastomers (VIE) in various body locations.