A study led by researchers at the University of British Columbia has found that catch-and-release sportfishing practices can cause significant injuries to salmon, leading to mortality rates as high as 40 percent. However, the research also suggests that altering fishing practices, such as using smaller hooks and handling fish less, can improve survival rates.
VANCOUVER — A study has found catch-and-release sportfishing practices that leave salmon with injuries, particularly to their eyes, cause higher mortality than earlier research suggested.
"You can make those decisions as an angler, you know, make sure that when you are releasing, you're doing it the best way possible," said Hinch, associate dean and professor in the university's department of forest and conservation science. The research, which involved tagging and tracking more than 1,500 salmon off B.C.'s coast, found injuries to eyes, fins and scales reduced survival rates for chinook by 15 to 20 per cent within 10 days of release."So could be as high as 40 per cent mortality, depending on the context, depending on how the fish was injured," Hinch said in an interview.
The study found a "strong size effect" on survival, with smaller coho and chinook both suffering higher mortality rates than larger fish. Every one-centimetre decrease in length was associated with a six per cent increase in coho mortality about three days after release. "Both chinook and coho, when those nets are used to bring them out of the water, into the boat, they still get their fins damaged. Their fins split, regardless of what the webbing material is made of," he said. "And we showed pretty clearly that when you start damaging the fins ... the poorer the survival outcomes were."
Fishing Salmon Mortality Conservation Sportfishing Environmental Impact
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