Releasing fish - draft policy.

Recfishwest has prepared a Draft Policy for Catch and Release Fishing, see http://www.recfishwest.org.au/PolicyDraftCatchandRelease.htm

This version is a draft which has been put out for public comments before deciding the final wording and contents of the policy.

There are many issues with releasing fish which would not be obvious to many people until those issues are pointed out.

Topics covered in the draft policy, in the context of releasing fish, include:-

. Ethical considerations

. Sustainability, equity and ethics in fishery management.

. Incidental mortality in fishing

. Different reasons for and situations which lead to releasing fish, including the common understanding of "catch and release fishing" as just one of several very different reasons for or situations where fish are released.

. Special areas for catch and release fishing.

. Appropriate and inappropriate fishing methods for catching fish for successful release. (an outline only).

This policy is for the information of anglers, so that people who want to fish for the future and catch and release fish responsibly can do it in a way that the fish have the maximum possible chance of survival, and the angler is aware of the impact he might be having on fish stocks.

These "best practices" for fishing to ensure maximum survival of all released fish are covered in many places and publications, and are being continually refined and updated with the latest information. For example, see the National Strategy for the Survival of Released Line Caught Fish at http://www.info-fish.net/releasefish/ which has lots of information.

There is no intention to propose or make any extra rules about how people should fish. But having said that, with Integrated Fisheries Management (IFM), and the allocation of catch shares and then the need to manage the catch to stay within the allocation which should be set for sustainability, everyone needs to be aware of the following very important points.

The Department of Fisheries doesn't care much how many fish you catch. They do care very much about how many fish die, because that decides the sustainability of the fishing activity.

Those fish deaths can be because you kept them for a feed, or because your fishing and handling methods lead to the death of the fish, whether deliberate, or unavoidable, incidental or accidental after they were released.

So the mortality from releasing fish WILL be included in the measure or the estimate of the amount of fish "taken" by recreational anglers compared to the allocation under IFM.

And THAT might lead to changes in the rules or reductions in the bag limits to ensure sustainability.

Please give us your comments.

TerryF
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Beavering away in the background......