Subject: Catch & Release

From: [email-masked] (Jeff Cook)
Date: 7 May 1995 00:40:30 -0400

Yes, this message really involves fisheries...

I just came back to fishing after 20+ years, a friend is getting me into 
fly-fishing. I've just read an article in FLY ROD & REEL MAGAZINE (April 
95) discouraging catch & release fishing. The reasoning is that when an area 
has a kill-limit for a particluar species, it's because they really do want 
to thin out that part of the population...and to return all fish to the 
water is pretty much irresponsible. If you read the article, you'll see I'm 
not overstating the author's opinion.

Is there any sense among the bio-management specialists here that this 
is an appropriate attitude? The author names shifting balances in 
species populations and reproductive ages, disease, additive vs. 
compensatory mortality, etc. The title of the article is 'Killing Your 
Share' and states..."Take a look at the angling regulations on the waters 
you fish, think through what they are apparently trying to achieve and, 
if you're satisfied that the goals are being reached, go ahead and kill 
accordingly."

Catch & Release is a new concept to me (like I said, it HAS been 20 years!), 
but one that I happily practice. But I would appreciate any comments from 
the people who plan out these things. Thanks.

Jeff Cook

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 9 May 1995 03:18:28 GMT

Quoting jcook from a message in sci.bio.fisheries
 jc: Path:
 jc:news1.delphi.com!news.delphi.com!uunet!news1.digex.net!news3.digex.net!d
 jc:igex.net!not-for-mail From: [email-masked] (Jeff Cook)
 jc:Newsgroups: sci.bio.fisheries Subject: Catch & Release
 jc: Date: 7 May 1995 00:40:30 -0400
 jc: Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
 jc: Lines: 25
 jc: Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
 jc: NNTP-Posting-Host: access5.digex.net
 jc: Yes, this message really involves fisheries...
 jc: I just came back to fishing after 20+ years, a friend is getting me
 jc:into fly-fishing. I've just read an article in FLY ROD & REEL MAGAZINE
 jc:(April 95) discouraging catch & release fishing.
            <<<deletions>>>
 jc:The title of the article is 'Killing Your
 jc: Share' and states..."Take a look at the angling regulations on the
 jc:waters you fish, think through what they are apparently trying to
 jc:achieve and, if you're satisfied that the goals are being reached, go
 jc:ahead and kill accordingly."
            <<<deletions>>>
>From  what I understand, the issue is primarily one of "quality" versus
quantity from the sportfisher's perspective. Populations managed with a
simple size minimum for harvest develop a paucity of older, larger fish over
the size limit. The fishing pressure "crops down" the population to that
size year after year, and few fish survive into the larger size category.
(And the ones that do have learned to avoid fishing lures.)

To promote more larger fish in a population, managers have experimented with
"slot-limits," which prohibit keeping fish within a certain range, i.e.,
between 11 and 15 in. for largemouth bass. They hope that the large
population of 10-11 in bass will be thinned by fishing pressure, which will
leave the larger bass and also give them more of the food forage base to
grow even larger. Unfortunately, many places that have tried slot limits
have found that anglers release bass regardless of size. Many slot limits
turn out in practice to be essentially catch and release (except for fish
larger than the upper slot, the trophy fish). The goal of thinning the
overabundant smaller fish often goes unfulfilled.

But many argue that this is not all bad, especially anglers who like to
catch a lot of fish and don't object that they are not very large. With a
pure catch and release situation you do get a lot of fish that do not grow
to their full potential, but still may be a lot of fun to catch.

So, in short, if the regs say you can take fish, take em if you want em to
eat. You'll have to decide for yourself whether you want quantity of
"quality" and whether you want to clean em!

Charles Moseley
[email-masked]

Rainbow V 1.11 for Delphi - Test Drive

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From: [email-masked] (stevec)
Date: 11 May 1995 15:14:03 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Jeff Cook) writes:
Jeff Cook wrote:
snip--snip
>The reasoning is that when an area 
>compensatory mortality, etc. 
snip--snip
>Jeff Cook
Well, a long time ago I had an undergraduate zoology project that involved 
population biology. I was supposed to write a simple computer model based on
different literature references that took into account food supply and
predator population. The target species was deer and the predator was cougar,
as well as I can remember (since 1975). The approach was very simplistic, but
I can tell you it was an eye-opener to me. With out predation, the population
 vs time graph tended to take on a very exaggerated saw tooth patten due to 
over population followed by famine and collapse of the deer population. It
really resembled the population response seen in the tragic African fammines.
It did not address the issues of size or permanent damage to the eco system. 

My experience with farm ponds has mirrored
the model pretty well, with a much more complex response. When predators were
introduced, the population smoothed out, and the population of deer and cougar
followed a staggered wave pattern. The assumptions of the model did not address
the disappearence of the deer from over predation. 

As a consequence, I have taught my children catch-and-kill small sunfish in 
ponds and lakes. Over population has been the bane of almost all good ponds
and lakes I have fished. It is necessary to consider the eco system and the 
species when making a decision, but I generally favor releasing the large fish
(the predators) and killing the small fish, especially where there is low
fishing pressure.

My brother is an experienced fisheries scientist (PhD) and has a similar
view. It is not just a simple question with a simple answer, contrary to 
what bureaucrats and lawmakers may think. If you are fishing and catching 
a *lot* of small fish (relative), think about killing rather than releasing,
if the law allows it. 

Steve C