Recfishwest Policy
Catch and Release Fishing

Recfishwest supports catch and release fishing as part of the legislative requirements and legitimate aspirations of recreational fishers.

Recfishwest recognises that people release fish for a variety of reasons; because they are required to do so by legislation relating to bag or size limits; because the fish is not suitable or desirable to eat; or because they wish to be able to capture that fish in the future.

Recfishwest will promote a set of guidelines which will describe careful fishing practice to minimise the risk of harm to captured fish and will describe best practice handling and release procedures that increase the survival of released fish.


Background and explanation

Recreational Fishing

Recreational fishing as an important activity has changed dramatically over the last 15 years. As available leisure time increases, activities such as recreational fishing have also increased in popularity. The community benefits of recreational fishing as an integral part of the Western Australian health and well being is being increasingly recognised.

However, the overall impacts of a growing population and increasing urbanisation means that the resource must be increasingly tightly managed to ensure that it is sustainable and that the community recognises the role that fishers play in management and protection of the environmental integrity of our fragile coastal environments.

Recreational fishers have long recognised the need for management controls. Since 1990 when the first major review of recreational fishing was undertaken, there have been four or five major reviews of recreational line fishing practices alone.

Whereas previously recreational fishing was primarily motivated by the desire to catch sufficient fish to feed oneself and family, many fishers are motivated by the desire to relax or enjoy the company of friends. The national recreational and indigenous fishing survey (2003) listed the three main reasons for going fishing as - relax and unwind (28%), to be with family (20%) and to fish for sport (18%). Only 11% (equal 4th) rated fishing for food as their main motivation for going fishing.

Recreational fishers are also driving increasingly complex management rules such as maximum size limits or seasonal closures which require increasing understanding of the need to catch, handle and release larger fish in a way that maximises the likelihood of survival. These rules are necessary to ensure that the resource is not over-exploited, can be shared amongst more anglers and recognises the increasing importance on the value of large fish within a population.

Ethical considerations

Recfishwest believes that we are justified in opposing most of the most radical anthropomorphic views with respect to fish. There is no evidence that fish have imagination or self-consciousness. Studies suggest that fish do not feel pain in the same way as humans. To be more specific we can consider the impact of hooks in the mouth of a fish. Most of the fish sought by anglers are higher order predators and must be accustomed to grabbing things in their mouth that have spines, spikes, shells and other "uncomfortable" characteristics.

Recreational fishers are all agreed, by common sense as well as national and international obligation, that we must not endanger the species for which we fish. Further than this we should not reduce its abundance below a certain prescribed level agreed by scientific and stakeholder consultation.

Any fish that is taken diminishes the resource for the other "users", which could be seabirds, commercial or recreational fishers, or people snorkelling. Although we have accepted that we can take fish within the community's rules we should not waste them unnecessarily. The practice of catching fish and leaving it to deteriorate in quality such that it must be discarded can no longer be accepted.

This issue of incidental mortality as a result of our fishing activity is one that needs careful consideration. Recfishwest believes that fish destined to be released should be captured as quickly as possible, handled as little as possible and released using the best available methods to increase the likelihood of survival. It will never be possible to eliminate incidental mortality but good practice should be adopted and promoted widely and research programs should continue to work to improve survival of fish released by statute or choice.

To summarise, Recfishwest believes there is a thoroughly defensible basis for recreational fishing. Humans have been catching fish to eat since prehistoric times. It has a cultural value, it has practical dietary value, and it maintains our traditional links with our original subsistence mode of living. The activity of fishing promotes mental and physical health. The use of the fish resource must be managed to meet objectives of sustainability and equity with other users.

Sustainability, equity and ethics in fishery management

Fishery management is concerned primarily with sustainability. It is also concerned to some extent with equity. This is more evident in commercial fisheries whereas in recreational fisheries a few fishers catch a large proportion of the fish.

Fishery management has not largely been directly concerned with ethical behaviour as it is mainly seen as secondary to sustainability and could be argued to be the responsibility of the community itself. The current fishing behaviour of recreational fishers is very much an outcome of the rapidly changing culture. As a peak body, Recfishwest should not resile from adopting a policy because it will be hard to ensure compliance. For example we all realise that "high grading" is a bad practice, which is difficult to police, but it should not stop us from proposing a fishing code of ethics that proscribes it and doing everything possible to see that stopping unnecessary wastage becomes a part of the culture of recreational fishing.

Incidental mortality in fishing

The term fishing has been used generally in this paper but the real emphasis is on fishing with a hook on a line because this is the dominant practice in recreational fishing and particularly in relation to discussions of catch and release. When fishing with a hook on a line there is always a danger of catching a fish which cannot be kept due to prevailing regulations. Such fish may be illegal because they belong to a proscribed species, are too small or too large or you already have the bag limit in your possession. In such cases the fish must be returned to the water.

The legal situation is clear. Whether the fish is alive or dead, or regardless of whether it will survive, it must be returned. However, if the fish dies it contributes to incidental mortality and will ultimately be included in the total allowable catch and will see a reduction in the catch available to be retained.

Recfishwest encourages recreational fishers to fish in such a way that increases the survival of all released fish. This includes the use of the release weight where barotrauma is a factor or fishing in as shallow water as possible for the targeted species.

An issue which needs to be addressed is that all fishers, irrespective of their motivation and retained catch, must acknowledge that they have an impact on the resource. It is that impact on the resource which must be managed, as well as meeting the sometimes differing aspirations of individual anglers.

We know, for example, that tailor survive release very well from work by Dr Suzanne Ayvazian. An angler who catches one legal sized fish for tea and then leaves has a total mortality of one fish. An angler who catches and releases 40 fish with an incidental mortality of around 3% has had a net mortality of 1.2 fish which is greater, even though they may feel that they have had no impact as they let all their fish go. Future fisheries management will make rules and allocations based upon the combined impact of both of these different anglers.

Catch and release fishing

An increasing number of recreational fishers choose to release fish that they could otherwise retain. Research shows that in many cases, especially in shallow water, the incidental mortality is very low. Many catch and release proponents choose to fish with lure or fly or use circle hooks where the hook related mortality issues are greatly diminished.

The relative impact of food fishers releasing gut hooked undersized fish versus larger lightly hooked fish on a lure is being investigated and will help the overall education to reduce total mortality. Rather than worry about the motivation of individual anglers, the proper role for Recfishwest is to develop strategies that reduce incidental mortality in all its forms.

Some types of catch and release fishing include -

• Big game fishing. This is virtually always for catch and release. Big game fishing providing a lot of recreational and economic activity from an extraordinarily small direct take of a fish resource. Many fish are tagged and released as part of an often angler funded research program. Much of the scientific information on movement and growth of these species has been derived from these research programs, some of which have had commercial fishing implications. It must be acknowledged that there is an impact on the resource through some incidental mortality. Game fishing however, has evolved a set of performance criteria based upon strike rates or hits which, by definition provide a very conservative catch rate relative to more traditional commercial fisheries management strategies.

• Catch and release sport fishing. This is practised in inland water as well as the ocean by anglers who catch fish for recreation, while keeping none or a few, to take to eat. This can be done in a remote locality with excellent fishing or in heavily fished areas where taking each fish caught could have a significant impact on the stocks and fishing quality. One motivation is to enjoy the availability or abundance of fish while having less impact on it.

• Fishing where a large proportion of the fish have to be returned. This often occurs where there are many undersized or unwanted fish that have to be returned. Many estuaries have juvenile fish or species such as blowfish and Recfishwest strongly advocates for methods that reduce or remove the by-catch of these fish. The total mortality of these fish will ultimately be included in the overall allocation and reducing the impact will greatly benefit future sustainability. Recfishwest has an obligation to take a lead role in reducing point source incidental mortality through education or if required, regulation.

• Continuing to fish and releasing the fish after the bag limit has been achieved. The total mortality continues through released fish and is to be discouraged, particularly with methods where incidental mortality through deep hooking or barotrauma is high.

• Competitive fishing. Competition fishing can take many forms including both informal (a couple of mates in the boat) or formal (organised events) situations. Organisers are strongly encouraged to manage the total mortality, quality of the catch and encourage participation rather than total kill based prizes. Most competitions in Western Australia are extremely responsible and Recfishwest has an obligation to work with organisers to ensure that their practices do not reflect adversely on the wider recreational fishing community.

Special areas for catch and release fishing

The recent debate about marine parks has brought to the surface the possibility of setting aside some areas for catch and release or low impact fishing. This provides for the opportunity to study the biological and stock implications of a variety of management tools which also provide for a wider spectrum of recreational fishing expectations and motivations.

Recfishwest believes that the most appropriate way in which coastal areas could be zoned for the benefit of catch and release fishing is the identification of "Wilderness" zones or "Low Impact Fishing" zones. A characteristic of such zones would be that no fish could be taken away from the area. See the Recfishwest Policy for Wilderness or Low Impact Fishing zones


APPENDIX 1

Appropriate and inappropriate fishing methods for catch and release.

It is suggested that there should be an extensive list of fishing practices prepared and this requires wide discussion. To start consideration of this list, which could be part of a publication on this topic, some suggestions are given below.

Catch and release fishing should have the following practices:-

• Single hooks should be used where possible.

• Hooks should be barbless or should have small barbs.

• All recreational fishers have an obligation to minimise the chance of deep hooking fish which is a major contributor to post capture mortality.

• Anglers are encouraged to move from areas where there are large numbers of undersized or unwanted species. If bag limits have been achieved, if possible move to new areas and change target species.

• Hooks should be appropriate to the size of the fish being targeted. Fish should not be allowed to swallow the hook if possible before setting the hook.

• Due to the lower deep hooking rate, lures or flies may be preferable to bait and circle hooks (particularly those with an offset of less than 15 degrees) may be advantageous.

• Lines should be strong enough to capture the fish quickly before it is exhausted. Exhaustion can cause irreversible lactic acid metabolism which kills fish.

• Fish must be able to be landed carefully. Fishing from high cliffs, spearfishing and use of gidgies for example requires special consideration of the difficulties associated with releasing fish.

• Use knotless landing nets to protect fins, scales, skin, eyes and slime.

• Minimise handling of fish. Correct handling and lifting practices are essential to avoid damage to fish.

• High grading, or returning dead smaller fish to keep a larger fish within the bag limits increases the total mortality and is opposed by Recfishwest. Continuing to fish after bag limits are reached, irrespective of any high grading also increases total mortality and should not be undertaken.

• Holding tanks for live fish must have sufficient water flow and aeration to maintain water quality similar to the natural environment of the fish.

This page last updated March 2006.