Bob Izumi is a fishing legend, “Canada’s most celebrated fisherman.” Seems like these guys don’t like him too much.

Apparently, every 365 days, 47 million fish are caught and released in Australia. On the surface (no pun intended) that appears to be 47 million times that fish don’t die when they’re caught. A good thing. It seems, however, that the practise of “catch and release” may, in some cases, just be putting off the moment of death rather than avoiding it outright. That’s the troubling aspect of the “catch and release” mantra: the assumption is that in catching and releasing, you’re letting the fish live to see another day (or at least reproduce so you have a viable fish population). It might be a bit of a dream though: in one Australian fish species (Yellowfin Bream) if the hook used to land the fish is located deep in the mouth mortality is as high as 87 %.

Matt Broadhurst and Paul Butcher, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries scientists, have developed a new set of “protocols” to improve the chances a fish will survive their release. Here they are, taken from the press-release linked below:

• Cut the line on fish that swallow hooks;
• Remove hooks caught in the fish’s mouth;
• Minimise air exposure;
• Use landing nets without knotted mesh;
• Maintain water quality in on-boat holding tanks; and
• Use the right rig for the fish species being targeting.

I like bullet 3 the best. Taken to its logical conclusion…

It should be noted that all fish that Broadhurst and Butcher tested (all caught via hook by fishers) had “physiological changes measured as elevations in either plasma cortisol or glucose,” indicating that regardless of a “good” hook in a mouth or a “bad” ingested hook, these fish were under stress.

Links:
Going Fishing? Only Some Catch And Release Methods Let The Fish Live

Release method and anatomical hook location: effects on short-term mortality of angler-caught Acanthopagrus australis and Argyrosomus japonicus