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West
Coast Rockfish Guidelines from California Sea Grant Overview of release guidance from
Guy Harvey Magazine General Guidelines for Releasing Marine Recreational
Fish
Note: These guidelines are generally
acceptable practices available on state, federal, and nonprofit websites.
They will be refined in the future and links provided to sources of
additional information. 1. Plan
Ahead
– expect to release fish on any given trip and prepare the equipment
necessary to do so. 2. Avoid encountering fish that you are required to release.
if catching fish that you cannot, or do not want to keep, changing the depth
that you are fishing, moving to a different area, or using different bait are
just a few techniques for avoiding unwanted catch. 3. Use gear suited to the size of fish that you are
trying to catch. Consider using sizes of hooks that allow you to catch fish
of the size that you want but not other sizes. Use circle hooks where recommended and be
aware that circle hook fishing techniques are different from normal “J” style
hook techniques. 4. When landing fish, don’t play them to exhaustion;
use line strength to minimize playing time. 5. Land the fish as quickly as possible. If
possible, leave them in the water rather than bringing them on board. If you must handle them, use knotless
rubberized landing nets and rubberized gloves, to avoid removing the slime
layer from their body. Support the body when lifting large fish. 6. DON’T
DROP THE FISH!
This causes great harm. 7. When releasing fish,
determine whether
you need a release tool
(dehookers, venting tools, recompression tools) to successfully release your
catch. 8. Time is of the
essence! – release fish
as soon
as practical
and do not keep them out of the water longer than necessary. Guidelines Specific for Saltwater Fish
Caught in Deep Water Some saltwater fish that are caught in deep
water may be suffering from “barotrauma,” a build up of swim bladder gases
that makes it difficult or impossible for them to go back down. Generally,
fish caught deeper than 30 feet will suffer some effects. Additional guidance
will be available in the future at www.takemefishing.org and www.fishsmart.org. Until then, follow
these tips: IMPORTANT: The use of venting tools and
dehooking devices is required when
participating in the recreational reef fish fisheries in the 1. When anglers are
not required by law to use venting tools, rapidly returning them to depth
(sometimes called “recompression”) is a good choice for returning fish to the
depth from which they are caught. A
variety of recompression tools are on the market, including descender
devices, release weights, release baskets, and others. A complete inventory
of such devices will be available at a later date from www.takemefishing.org and www.fishsmart.org. 2. Return fish to the depth of capture. If
catching fish at very deep depths, returning them as deep as possible will
dramatically improve survival. 3. If rapid descent is
not possible, venting is another option (use
established guidelines for venting such as found at http://catchandrelease.org/). Note that the fish’s stomach may protrude
from its mouth. Do NOT puncture the stomach. FishSmart - it's up to you! Contact: info@fishsmart.org |
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