Thread: Legasea fish handling practices. Thoughts?

Quote:
As summer rolls in, our FishCare programme reminds us of "best practice" techniques for recreational fishers such as reducing wastage and maximising the survival rates of released fish.

If you’re fishing deeper than 15 metres, watch out for barotrauma – a condition that affects the swim bladder when brought up from the depths. To avoid unnecessary harm, fish caught deeper than 15 metres shouldn’t be released unless absolutely necessary. Even if they appear okay, internal damage is still risky when bringing them up too quickly and from too deep.

Handle fish gently to improve their chances of survival. Wet your hands before touching them to protect their skin, and try to keep them in the water whenever possible. If handling is unavoidable, return them quickly and safely to minimise stress. Rubber nets are ideal for handling fish as they protect their slime layer, minimise injuries, reduce stress, and prevent snagging - supporting better fish survival rates after release.

For photos, keep it quick and close to the water. A handy tip – hold your breath while snapping the shot. If you need to breathe, they probably do too.

Share what you know with your mates – it’s not just about today’s catch but the future of our fish and marine ecosystems. Together, we can fish smarter and help protect our oceans for future generations.

Check out www.fishcare.co.nz for more tips and tricks!


The part about not releasing fish that come from deeper than 15 meters might spark some debate but it does bring up an interesting point.
If you follow any Australian fishing media you come to revise how far ahead of us Australia is when it comes to fisheries research, and one thing that has been found in there research is snapper are a species that does not release well. It is a different climate but it's the same fish and one wonders if mortality rate us the same here.

Perhaps the "catch fish all day but only keep a couple for
a feed" idea that is heavily featured on fishing shows is not best for the fish, could be the bloke that catches his 7 snapper limit and goes home is actually killing less fish than the catch and release bloke.

Another thing I've thought of after reading that was with other popular sport fish ie trout, marlin, it has always been said if you want to let the fish go don't mess about with it, land it as fast as possible and send it on its way.
Why would that not apply to other fish like snapper? The current trend is to use as light a gear as possible for sport reasons which prolongs the fight and exhausts the fish.

What's everyone's take on this?