Some good news on Striped Bass - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

Mr. Sandman · 02-06-2008, 08:24 AM

I just don't believe that the discard mortality is anywhere near that high. I doubt any of those that compute these numbers have caught and released a bass ever.
There is no discard mortality from commercial fishing? What about all those bass they shovel overboard that are belly up outside the eez?
This entire process is total

and I don't believe any of it.

DZ...what exactly is the "good news"? WHat this tells me is that we should not release fish because they are just going to die anyway so we may as well keep them. Sorry, I don't buy that. IMO most fish release live to fight another day and tagging proves this.

DZ · 02-06-2008, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

DZ...what exactly is the "good news"? WHat this tells me is that we should not release fish because they are just going to die anyway so we may as well keep them. Sorry, I don't buy that. IMO most fish release live to fight another day and tagging proves this.

Jim,
The good news is the title of the press release:
"Striped Bass Stock Assessment Indicates Healthy Stock
Female Spawning Stock Biomass Remains High"

Rec Discard Mortality is a big issue right now. I know the numbers seem staggering but the numbers are the best that they have available. I think the scientists use a figure of 8 %. There is an amendment to the Striped bass Plan that addresses Rec Discards. I'll try and find and post it.

DZ

DZ · 02-06-2008, 08:49 AM

I've attached Addendum 1 to Amendment 6. This will give you a good breakdown on Discard Mortality for Striped Bass. Like I said this is a big issue right now and in the future and scientists are asking states for input on better numbers and ways to decrease discard mortality.

DZ

Mr. Sandman · 02-06-2008, 09:00 AM

There is a lot of info in that report, I'll dive into it over the weekend when I have some more time. Thanks for posting it!

HESH2 · 02-06-2008, 09:08 AM

all my catch and release are made standing in surf,barbless hooks,mostly schoolies.fish not picked totally out of water,all lip grabbed by me.during course of year maybe 3 bleeders out of all fish released.a bleeding fish is a dead fish.recs release mortality rate seems high to me.

Squidhound · 02-06-2008, 10:13 AM

Rec fishing mortality will always be a best guess type of thing. There was a very interesting study I ran across on the internet a couple years ago, where they actually had a bunch of guys catching bass tagging them and holding them in a large pen for several days, in an effort to get an idea of delayed mortality and the relationship between gut hooked fish and release mortality. They tracked alot of details and variables, the part of the study that surprised me was the fish dieing hours to days after being released. The idea that just because it swam away in a healthy angry and vigorous manner didn't necesarrily mean it was going to live. I feel I do a pretty good job treating a bass nice and letting it swim away (when I don't keep it) but after seeing this study I ended up feeling any gut hooked fish's odds weren't quite as good as I had thought they were previously.

Anyways, does this study ring a bell with anyone here? I just went looking for it briefly and didn't find it, but it really is one of the most interesting examples of data collection on this topic that I have seen.

DZ · 02-06-2008, 11:16 AM

Squidhound,
Here are a few links to some studies. They may be what your looking for.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_mari...report2003.pdf

http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/fisherie...port/crsb.html

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries...yresearch.html

DZ

zimmy · 02-06-2008, 08:52 AM

The percent harvested is small compared to the percent hooked/caught. If 1 in 11 bass caught are kept, you have 10 released for every 1 caught. If the release mortality is (to keep the math easy) 10%, 1 outta the 11 die from release and 1 outta 11 are killed for the table or wall. I don't know what the numbers really are, I made them up for the purpose of discussion. Catch and release is a huge part of the fishery. There are tons of factors that contribute to release mortality and there alot of guys out there gut hooking, throwing fish on the rocks and hanging 25lbers by the jaw on boga type devices. I wouldn't be suprised at all if the release mortality is 5-10% and thats a bunch of dead fish. If everyone here calculated their own catch and release mortality at 3% that would be a pretty good # of dead fish.