Best practices for catch-and-release recreational fisheries – angling tools and tactics

Abstract

Catch-and-release angling is an increasingly popular conservation strategy employed by anglers voluntarily or to comply with management regulations, but associated injuries, stress and behavioural impairment can cause post-release mortality or fitness impairments. Because the fate of released fish is primarily determined by angler behaviour, employing ‗best angling practices' is critical for sustainable recreational fisheries. While basic tenants of best practices are well established, anglers employ a diversity of tactics for a range of fish species, thus it is important to balance science-based best practices with the realities of dynamic angler behaviour. Here we describe how certain tools and tactics can be integrated into recreational fishing practices to marry best angling practices with the realities of angling. While the effects of angling practices vary considerably across contexts and conditions, we also outline available methods for assessing fish condition by examining physical injuries and reflexes, which enable recreational anglers to make educated real-time decisions related to angling practices, as well as when, where, and whether to release captured fish based on their probability of survival. In cases where fish are poor condition, there are recovery tactics available that can improve survival, although this is among the most understudied aspects of angling practices.

Effectiveness of Venting and Descender Devices at Increasing Rates of Postrelease Survival of Black Sea Bass

“…These factors may have contributed to the contradictory findings between our study and the Wilde (2009) meta‐analysis; these differences reinforce the suggestion for species‐ and depth‐specific studies to test the effectiveness of venting (Brownscombe et al. ; Eberts and Somers ) rather than forming conclusions about its effectiveness across species, depths, and environments.…”

“…Recreational fishers can be integral in developing and using devices that increase postrelease survival of the fish that they discard (Cooke and Schramm ; Brownscombe et al. ), thereby reducing their impacts on the stocks that they exploit.…”

A synthesis to understand responses to capture stressors among fish discarded from commercial fisheries and options for mitigating their severity

“…Physical injuries associated with hooking in these fisheries are similar to those of recreational angling, which have been extensively studied in the context of catch‐and‐release (reviewed in Brownscombe, Danylchuk, Chapman, Gutowsky, & Cooke, ). There has been considerable research on effects of various aspects of hooks (e.g., size, type) and other terminal gear (e.g.…”

Do recreational fisheries metrics vary on differently sized fishing grounds?

“…However, large fishing grounds can provide a variety of non‐fishing activities for the whole family, for example, swimming, water sports and beach sports (Smallwood & Beckley, ). In that case, anglers on large fishing grounds often prefer catch‐and‐release fishing (Brownscombe, Danylchuk, Chapman, Gutowsky & Cooke, ; Cooke & Cowx, ; Gaeta, Beardmore, Latzka, Provencher & Carpenter, ). Size of the fishing ground explained 30%–50% of the variability in catch, yield and visit rates and is thus a reasonably good predictor of basic metrics in recreational fishing.…”