Releasing fish with Baratrauma

[hammer4reel]

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

A lot of questions to be answered which might make me think otherwise because often times the devil is in the details and what seems to be logical in theory is not in practice.

- Who is responsible for purchasing the device...The boat owner, private or for hire or the individual angler or does there just have to be one on the boat?

- Same question above except for who's responsible for making sure the device is used and is it mandatory to use on every fish and any species that's released or only the ones showing signs of decompression?

- Who makes the final decision to implement this? Some committee in the sky who can make a unilateral decision or will this be discussed and decided by the public in a state or region.

It’s already written into law in other states .
Every boat is required to have and use it to release every fish not kept caught from waters deep enough for compression .

Marine fisheries should be mandating their use to protect the fisheries .

A venting tool is 10-25 bucks
The investment isn’t in the tool , it’s in actually using it

..

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by hammer4reel

It’s already written into law in other states .
Every boat is required to have and use it to release every fish not kept caught from waters deep enough for compression .

Marine fisheries should be mandating their use to protect the fisheries .

A venting tool is 10-25 bucks
The investment isn’t in the tool , it’s in actually using it

..

Thanks for that Dan. I'm starting to come around here. You and me are usually on opposite ends of things but I always appreciate our discussions and your point of view. Although yours might differ from mine, we can still talk about them and keep it respectful.

[bunker dunker]

i think the angler should take some responsibility also.learn to properly vent a fish brought up from the depths{that can be}.i do allot of off shore sea bass
trip every year.i know that those bass coming up from that depth will have the bends.i learned how to vent them and now watch every one that i throw back swim straight back down to the bottom.it takes seconds to do.tile fishing is a horse of another color.i believe that anything brought up from 700-1200ft doesn't stand a chance of revival.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by bunker dunker

i think the angler should take some responsibility also.learn to properly vent a fish brought up from the depths{that can be}

Agreed 100%!

[Dawn Treader]

What we use is even cheaper than the unit Dan presented. It’s called Vent-a-Fish and is a hollow needle unit. Every short sea bass from depth can be vented within 5 seconds and returned very lively. In a pinch, we’ve also used Littoral Society tagging needles with a little bit of wrapped duct tape at the blunt end to help with grip. If we toss a fish inadvertently without venting, I have noticed that quickly tapping head with Rod tip fixes them like Dale said and if not we net them and vent quickly.

No reason in the world why any boat can’t have a few needles and instruct folks to let the mate quickly vent the fish. Could be very hectic when everyone is catching but conservation should be the priority.

[hammer4reel]

Originally Posted by Dawn Treader

What we use is even cheaper than the unit Dan presented. It’s called Vent-a-Fish and is a hollow needle unit. Every short sea bass from depth can be vented within 5 seconds and returned very lively. In a pinch, we’ve also used Littoral Society tagging needles with a little bit of wrapped duct tape at the blunt end to help with grip. If we toss a fish inadvertently without venting, I have noticed that quickly tapping head with Rod tip fixes them like Dale said and if not we net them and vent quickly.

No reason in the world why any boat can’t have a few needles and instruct folks to let the mate quickly vent the fish. Could be very hectic when everyone is catching but conservation should be the priority.

I also vent sea bass as I stated in other posts , and feel everyone should .
Mustad sells a venting tool for under 10 bucks , though I like my pro vent better .

The seaqualizer I think is better suited for blackfish and other bottom fish .

I agree with BD fish caught below 150’ are pretty much toast .
We caught short raker rockfish in Alaska in 600-1000 ‘
They were pretty much dead before they got to 300 and actually floated up to the surface quickly from 300 on up .