Catch and release is a practice within recreational fishing

Recreational fishing

Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing, is fishing for pleasure or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is fishing for profit, or subsistence fishing, which is fishing for survival....

 intended as a technique of conservation

Conservation biology

Conservation biology is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction...

. After capture, the fish are unhooked and returned to the water before experiencing serious exhaustion or injury. Using barbless hooks, it is often possible to release the fish without removing it from the water (a slack line is frequently sufficient).

History of practice

In the United Kingdom, catch and release has been performed for more than a century by coarse fishermen

Coarse fishing

Coarse fishing is a term used in the United Kingdom and Ireland for angling for coarse fish, which are those types of freshwater fish other than game fish . The sport and the techniques used are particularly popular in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe.-History:The term "coarse fishing"...

 in order to prevent target species from disappearing in heavily fished waters. Since the latter part of the 20th century, many salmon

Atlantic salmon

The Atlantic salmon is a species of fish in the family Salmonidae, which is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and in rivers that flow into the north Atlantic and the north Pacific....

 and sea trout

Brown trout

The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....

 rivers have been converted to complete or partial catch and release.

In the United States, catch and release was first introduced as a management tool in the state of Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

 in 1952 as an effort to reduce the cost of stocking

Fish stocking

Fish stocking is the practice of raising fish in a hatchery and releasing them into a river, lake, or the ocean to supplement existing populations, or to create a population where none exists...

 hatchery

Hatchery

A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish or poultry. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled conditions; alternatively, it may be for economic reasons A hatchery is a...

-raised trout

Trout

Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

. Anglers fishing for fun rather than for food accepted the idea of releasing the fish while fishing in so-called "no-kill" zones. Conservationist

Conservationist

Conservationists are proponents or advocates of conservation. They advocate for the protection of all the species in an ecosystem with a strong focus on the natural environment...

s have advocated catch and release as a way to ensure sustainability

Sustainability

Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...

 and to avoid overfishing

Overfishing

Overfishing occurs when fishing activities reduce fish stocks below an acceptable level. This can occur in any body of water from a pond to the oceans....

 of fish stocks. Lee Wulff also promoted catch and release as he observed the Atlantic Salmon population dwindle.

In Australia, catch and release caught on slowly, with some pioneers practicing it in the 1960s, and the practice slowly became more widespread in the 1970s and 1980s. Catch and release is now widely used to conserve — and indeed is critical in conserving — vulnerable fish species like the large, long lived native freshwater Murray Cod

Murray Cod

The Murray cod is a large Australian predatory freshwater fish of the Maccullochella genus and the Percichthyidae family. Although the species is a called cod in the vernacular, it is not related to the northern hemisphere marine cod species...

 and the prized, slowly growing, heavily fished Australian bass

Australian bass

Australian bass are a small to medium sized, primarily freshwater native fish found in coastal rivers and streams along the east coast of Australia. They are a member of the Percichthyidae family and, currently, the Macquaria genus. Australian bass are an iconic, highly predatory native fish...

, heavily fished coastal species like Dusky Flathead

Dusky Flathead

The dusky flathead is a large predatory fish and the largest member of the Platycephalidae family...

 and prized gamefish like striped marlin

Striped marlin

The striped marlin, Tetrapturus audax, is a species of marlin found in tropical to temperate Indo-Pacific oceans not far from the surface. It is a large commercial game fish with a record weight of 190 kg, and a maximum length of 420 cm. The striped marlin is a predator that hunts during the day...

.

In the Republic of Ireland, catch and release has been used as a conservation tool for atlantic salmon and sea trout fisheries since 2003. A number of fisheries now have mandatory catch and release regulations. Catch and release for coarse fish has been used by sport anglers for as long as these species have been fished for on this island. However catch and release for Atlantic salmon has required a huge turn about in how many anglers viewed the salmon angling resource. To encourage anglers to practice catch and release in all fisheries a number of Government led incentives have been implemented.

In Canada, catch and release is mandatory for some species. Canada also requires, in some cases, the use of barbless hooks

Fish hook

A fish hook is a device for catching fish either by impaling them in the mouth or, more rarely, by snagging the body of the fish. Fish hooks have been employed for centuries by fishermen to catch fresh and saltwater fish. In 2005, the fish hook was chosen by Forbes as one of the top twenty tools...

 to facilitate release and minimize injury.

In Switzerland and Germany catch and release fishing is considered inhumane and is now banned.

Catch and release techniques

Effective catch and release fishing techniques avoid excessive fish fighting and handling times, avoid damage to fish skin, scale and slime layers by nets, dry hands and dry surfaces (that leave fish vulnerable to fungal skin infections), and avoid damage to throat ligaments and gills by poor handling techniques.

The use of barbless hooks is an important aspect of catch and release; barbless hooks reduce injury and handling time, increasing survival. Frequently, fish caught on barbless hooks can be released without being removed from the water, and the hook(s) effortlessly slipped out with a single flick of the pliers or leader. Barbless hooks can be purchased from several major manufacturers or can be created from a standard hook by crushing the barb(s) flat with needle-nosed pliers. Some anglers avoid barbless hooks because of the erroneous belief that too many fish will escape. Concentrating on keeping the line tight at all times while fighting fish, equipping lures that do not have them with split rings, and using recurved point or "Triple Grip" style hooks on lures, will keep catch rates with barbless hooks as high as those achieved with barbed hooks.

One study looking at brook trout

Brook trout

The brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, is a species of fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. In many parts of its range, it is known as the speckled trout or squaretail. A potamodromous population in Lake Superior are known as coaster trout or, simply, as coasters...

 found that barbless hooks did not result in statistically significantly lower mortality rates than barbed hooks when fish were hooked in the mouth, but did elevate mortalities if fish were hooked deeper. The study also suggested bait fishing does not have a significantly higher mortality when utilized in an active style, rather than a passive manner that allows the fish to swallow the bait.

To make a hook barbless, the barb is simply crushed flat with a pair of needle-nosed pliers, a trivial task. Medium grit sandpaper can be further used to ensure complete removal of the barb, but this is not necessary and is rarely done.

The effects of catch and release vary from species to species. A study of fish caught in shallow water on the Great Barrier Reef showed high survival rates (97%+) (e.g.) for released fish if handled correctly and particularly if caught on artificial baits such as lures. Fish caught on lures are usually hooked cleanly in the mouth, minimizing injury and aiding release. Other studies have shown somewhat lower survival rates for fish gut-hooked on bait if the line is cut and the fish is released without trying to remove the hook.

Debate

Catch and release is a conservation practice developed to prevent overharvest

Overfishing

Overfishing occurs when fishing activities reduce fish stocks below an acceptable level. This can occur in any body of water from a pond to the oceans....

 of fish stocks in the face of growing human populations, mounting fishing pressure, increasingly effective fishing tackle and techniques, inadequate fishing regulations and enforcement, and habitat degradation. Fishermen have been practicing catch and release for decades, including with some highly pressured fish species. Proponents of catch and release dispute the suggestion that fish hooked in the mouth feel pain.

Opponents of catch and release point out that fish are highly evolved vertebrates that share many of the same neurological structures that, in humans, are associated with pain perception

Nociceptor

A nociceptor is a sensory receptor that responds to potentially damaging stimuli by sending nerve signals to the spinal cord and brain. This process, called nociception, usually causes the perception of pain.-History:...

. They point to studies that show that, neurologically, fish are quite similar to "higher" vertebrates and that blood chemistry reveals that hormones and blood metabolites associated with stress are quite high in fish struggling against hook and line. The idea that fish do not feel pain in their mouths has been studied at the University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

 and the Roslin Institute by injecting bee venom and acetic acid into the lips of rainbow trout; the fish responded by rubbing their lips along the sides and floors of their tanks in an effort to relieve themselves of the sensation. Lead researcher Dr. Lynne Sneddon wrote, "Our research demonstrates nociception and suggests that noxious stimulation in the rainbow trout has adverse behavioral and physiological effects. This fulfils the criteria for animal pain." The research does not explain why popular gamefish such as largemouth bass

Largemouth bass

The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...

 would intentionally prey on spiny fish and crustaceans, that regularly cause hook-like puncture wounds to the inside of their mouths.

James D. Rose of the University of Wyoming

University of Wyoming

The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...

 argues this may demonstrate a chemical sensitivity rather than pain and that the evidence for pain sensation in fish is ambiguous.

During a Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation is an agency of the state of Oklahoma responsible for managing and protecting Oklahoma's wildlife population and their habitats. The Department is under the control of the Wildlife Conservation Commission, an 8-member board appointed by the Governor...

 study, up to 43 percent of fish released after being caught died within six days as a result of inadequate holding and weigh in procedures during tournaments.

Deep sea fishing and catch and release

While a number of scientific studies have now found survival rates of shallow water fish caught-and-released on fly and lure have extremely high survival rates (95–97%) and modestly high survival rates on bait (70–90%, depending on species, bait, hook size, etc.) emerging research suggests catch and release does not work very well with fish caught when deep sea fishing. New research indicates that bait mortality is more closely related to technique than to the fact that one is fishing bait, and that bait mortality is much lower than once thought.

Most deep sea fish species suffer from the sudden pressure change when wound to the surface from great depths; these species cannot adjust their body's physiology quickly enough to follow the pressure change. The result is called "barotrauma

Barotrauma

Barotrauma is physical damage to body tissues caused by a difference in pressure between an air space inside or beside the body and the surrounding fluid...

". Fish with barotrauma will have their enormously swollen swim-bladder protruding from their mouth, bulging eyeballs, and often sustain other, more subtle but still very serious injuries. Upon release, fish with barotrauma will be unable to swim or dive due to the swollen swim-bladder. The common practice has been to deflate the swim bladder by pricking it with a thin sharp object before attempting to release the fish.

Emerging research http://www.abc.net.au/nt/stories/s1996078.htm indicates both barotrauma and the practice of deflating the swimbladder are both highly damaging to fish, and that survival rates of caught-and-released deep-sea fish is extremely low. However, barotrauma requires that fish be caught at least 30 – 50 feet below the surface. Many surface caught fish, such as billfish, and all fish caught from shore, do not meet this criterion and thus do not suffer barotrauma.

External links

• Practicing Catch and Release Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
• Catch-and-Release Fishing Rhode Island Sea Grant. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
• Catch And Release Fishing Native Fish Australia. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
• Catch and release Department of Fish and Game, Alaska. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
• Only Some Catch And Release Methods Let The Fish Live ScienceDaily, 4 June 2007.
• Catch and Release Fishing - links from about.com