Rockfish Fishers: Effective Deepwater Release Technique (Listen Up Perch People!)

[Marty S]

So ya... Nasty new regulations for the rockfish fishers in all of us... 3 rockfish/day this year and only one yelloweye... that's very mean considering the longliners out there mass annihilating the species as irritable bycatch.

http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/fighting/chair-to-the-head.gif (http://www.sherv.net/)




Anyways, some very easy to do techniques to ensure unwanted rockfish survive.

As none of this info seems to appear in any DFO literature or the BC regs etc, please spread this info to anybody you know that ocean fishes. No sense wasting fish when it's so easy to keep the things alive. If your charter guide doesnt know this technique, you might as well learn him! Maybe learn your government law enforcement officials. In fact if you encounter any DFO personel, you may as well learn them too!

Applicable to them little perches that people seem to fish for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9ThRMgq36c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB6oNolIq8g

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/bottomfish/rockfish/mortality.html

[SNAPFisher]

Thanks! The 3rd link has a lot of common sense in it. I also didn't know about recompression so I do appreciate this. Looks like a good investment in one of the techniques.

[Brandonkop]

They've been doing this for years in the US. When I was in California you weren't allowed to keep Canary Rockfish, Bronze spotted Rockfish, Cowcod, limit on Boccaico so they recommended alwasy carrying a type of fish descending device. The research is pretty compelling on greatly improved mortality. Its crazy that they can come up all bugged out but then you watch the underwater vids and they recompress and take right off. Must heal up pretty fast I guess.

I wish they carried these devices in the fishing stores on the coast. I just make one out of a hook with a weight attached.