Investigation of movement and factors influencing post-release survival of line-caught coral reef fish using recreational tag-recapture data

Assessing the effects of line capture and barotrauma relief procedures on post‐release survival of key tropical reef fish species in Australia using recreational tagging clubs

“…The database contains information on many species including key tropical reef species such as common coral trout, Plectropomus leopardus Lacepède, crimson snapper, Lutjanus erythropterus Bloch, saddletail snapper, Lutjanus malabaricus (Bloch & Schneider), red emperor, Lutjanus sebae (Cuvier), redthroat emperor, Lethrinus miniatus (Schneider) and grass emperor, Lethrinus laticaudis Alleyne & Macleay. An earlier analysis of ANSA data collected up to 2003 (Sumpton et al. 2008) suggested that venting enhanced the release survival of both L. sebae and L. malabaricus, although only a small subset of anglers used the venting method, barotrauma symptoms were not recorded, shot‐lining had not been trialled and there were inconsistencies in the information recorded by anglers.…”

“…This experiment failed to demonstrate a consistent statistically significant effect of either treating or not treating fish species for barotrauma. The exception was L. malabaricus , where there was a benefit in treating for barotrauma prior to release, a result consistent with the findings of Sumpton et al. (2008) that suggested that venting enhanced released survival.…”

Refuge-Seeking Impairments Mirror Metabolic Recovery Following Fisheries-Related Stressors in the Spanish Flag Snapper (Lutjanus carponotatus) on the Great Barrier Reef

“…Given that reef fish captured by hook and line may often be caught at depth, barotrauma is regarded as a significant driver of release mortality, such that standard practices involve venting fish that are released so that they can return to depth (Sumpton et al 2008Brown et al 2010). However, the capture and handling process (landing, hook removal, venting, photographs/admiration-and associated air exposure) induces physiological disturbance associated with exercise and hypoxia (e.g., air exposure; Cooke and Suski 2005;Arlinghaus et al 2007;Davis 2010).…”

“…Release rates may be as high as 60% on the Great Barrier Reef (Sumpton et al 2008), and in the Florida Keys members of the grouper/snapper complex are managed with various harvest regulations, such that release rates are high (e.g., in some regions, all snapper must be released; Coleman et al 2000). Therefore, there is a need to understand the extent to which released fish may be subject to postrelease mortality via predation.…”

“…Lutjanus carponatatus are abundant in tropical and subtropical waters of the Indo-Pacific, where they are a frequent capture of commercial and recreational fisheries. They are often captured as bycatch by commercial fishers handlining to capture other more desirable species, and in many areas, such as the GBRMP, size and bag limits (Welch et al 2008) and no-take zones are used to manage the recreational fishery, such that some component of the catch must be released (Sumpton et al 2008). Moreover, a hooking mortality study for L. carponatatus revealed that short-term (48 h) mortality was low (2.6%) when fish were held in a laboratory (Diggles and Ernst 1997).…”