Hey all. I’ve been using iNaturalist for almost a year now but only recently have I started getting involved with the Forums. I figure this would be another good place to ask this question. I am an avid recreational fisherman, and I practice catch-and-release 99% of the time I go out. So you can im…

[image] insectobserver123: I do think your uncle is wrong if he says any species of fish has a post relese mortality rate of 0%, it may be 0.1%, but never absolutely 0 [image] song_dog: scientists “with credentials” view even a <10% mortality rate as too high. As long as we are discuss…

[image] insectobserver123: This is really interesting though that the pier has actually changed the habitat for at least dozens of meters around, I am quite familiar with catching seaweed, but would never have imagined the seaweed would get ‘fished out’ As I said earlier, it does vary from si…

[image] tiwane: I’ve hidden a few posts here that contained language that were more ad hominem than necessary. @tiwane My apologies if you’ve read things I wrote in that way - it’s certainly not a topic I’m “angry” about, and I see absolutely nothing to be gained by attacking other people ove…

[image] environ: Absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence [image] environ: you do seem to be coming from the belief that these problems do not occur where you fish because you don’t see them. Absence of evidence is evidence of absence if you are looking where the evidence would be…

[image] environ: But if you catch and release enough fish that 10% of that same population die after being released, you have quite a different problem. You’ve massively increased the nutrient load for detritovores, with the potential to massively increase the amount of biomass in the habitat, w…

[image] insectobserver123: The pier I fish has a visible mat of weeds right up to it, so in that case I do have evidence that the weeds are not stripped in the manner you have seen at other jetties. I’ve said a few times now that this is in the range of normal site dependent variation - but t…

[image] environ: I’ve said a few times now that this is in the range of normal site dependent variation - but that is absolutely not evidence of absence for all the other problems I’ve described. I was only talking about that in context of the specific issue of weed damage, nothing else. I wa…

[image] insectobserver123: I considered the possibility that I just don’t catch the fish with hooks left in them because they have learned to avoid hooks, but I do catch fish with injuries from poor handling by other anglers, so I do not think learned avoidance of hooks can explain why I don’t s…

Also some people who do catch and release for sharks (at least the big ones) deliberately cut the line or the hook itself, cut hooks likely fall out, but I still don’t think this is a good idea, and I’m surprised that catch and release fishermen would think intentionally leaving a hook in a fish is …

Yeah, if recreational catch and release was doing what some of the people tagging sharks are doing this might be a very different conversation. I’ve deliberately avoided conflating that can of worms with what you’re doing… [image] insectobserver123: I’m surprised that catch and release fisherm…

Catch-and-release fishing

Nature Talk

DianaStuder September 26, 2024, 11:55am 65

That is what they did here - but haven’t walked that bit for years. I hope that with sea animal NGOs like Shark Spotters and SANCCOB (sea and coastal birds esp penguins) that ours are maintained.

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Catch-and-release fishing

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