Government agrees: fishing hurts! Are anglers listening?
May 5th, 2008 by admin
On June 1, new state and federal rules go into effect that will require anglers who fish for “reef fish,” such as snapper, grouper and amberjack to use circle hooks and to have dehooking and venting tools on board their boats.
If you don’t know what the heck that means, you’re probably not an angler (thank you!). A quick explanation:
- Due to their curved shape, circle hooks are less likely to catch fish in the stomach or throat; instead, fish are hooked in the lip where it is believed the injury will not be life-threatening.
- Fish, much like human divers, can suffer decompression sickness when they are pulled to the surface from deep underwater. Venting devices are used to puncture the fish and release gases that build up when the pressure changes. An article about the new rules in the Fort Myers News-Press last week included a photograph of a grouper whose stomach was pushed out of his mouth, a common result of decompression sickness in fish.
- Dehooking tools make it possible for a hook to be removed without having to touch the fish or take the fish out of the water (handling fish damages their protective “slime” layer, leaving them open to infection).
We’re not sure what to think of the new rules. It is a positive thing that federal and state agencies are requiring techniques that may reduce injury and increase the number of fish who survive after being pulled out of the ocean. But we don’t understand how anglers can learn, in detail, about the many different injuries they cause fish and still enjoy the activity? We hope that as anglers learn more about how fish suffer, they will hang up their fishing rods for good.