Fish mortality

Captmikestarrett · 09-08-06, 09:37 AM

I recieved this email from some fellow conservation groups. Now do not get upset about it but do respond to with your thoughts. Also I know it breaks the the 20 line rule but give it try and read it all. Thanks

Capt Mike
The truth about delayed mortality
By Tim Lesmeister

"""In the July 28 issue of Outdoor News there was a wire-service story about an FLW bass tournament on the Mississippi River where the delayed mortality was high. They discovered this because DNR and fishery biology researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point performed a delayed-mortality study. Here is what I find interesting. The comment by a tournament official was, clearly we re all concerned, about the fish deaths. But he adds, we have a lot to learn about how to conduct the study.
I find this comment to be typical of tournament organizers. They should be doing more to make sure those fish don t die instead of blaming the study.
There were two groups of fish in that study: a control group that had been captured by electroshocking that were penned, and a group of tournament fish that had a fin clipped to show they were part of the tournament weigh-in process. The 582 bass that were found dead all had clipped fins.
It never fails. Every time there is a delayed mortality study the tournament fish show up dead and the tournament organizers always try to find fault with the study. The simple truth is that the tournaments are killing the fish.
It s not the anglers that are killing those fish, at least not most of the time on the majority of the fish. Livewells in boats are now coming standard with oxygenating equipment and anglers know how to keep that equipment clean and running. There are times when the water at a weigh-in site is low in oxygen due to stagnation and temperature, but the livewells with oxygenation can negate that condition. There are seldom more than a few fish that were hooked badly that will cause death. The majority of the dead fish, almost all of them, die of suffocation from the boat to the scales.
Tournaments love using bags to hold fish. These plastic bags hold a few gallons of water and a half-dozen fish and anglers are instructed to put the fish in the bag and bring them to the scales. Typically these fish can be in that bag from a minute to an hour or sometimes even longer.
Studies and there have been lots of them show that the oxygen in this bag is depleted in less than two minutes. This means that from two minutes on those fish are suffocating. After about four minutes the fish is basically going to succumb to delayed mortality. From the tournaments I have attended in the past few years I would state that there have been no bag tournaments that did not result in a complete loss of the fish that were brought in to weigh. It s simple math. If the fish are in the bag for more than a few minutes they will die. I have yet to see a bag tournament where this doesn t happen.
But why don t the tournament organizers understand this and quit weighing fish this way? It s too easy to use bags. And, organizers don t immediately see the mortality from their refusal to see the problem.
When bass or walleyes are released after a bag weigh-in, they swim to the bottom where they eventually suffocate. They sit there to deteriorate and be eaten by turtles. Some might bloat and float but they ll get picked up by gulls or turtles or eventually wash away from the tournament site. Organizers are long gone and getting ready for their next kill fest.
Are there long-range implications here? You bet. On Lake Minnetonka where there is a tournament nearly every week from June through August, the delayed mortality is having an effect. I was discussing bass fishing with two guides who spend four to six days a week on this west-metro lake and they say big bass are getting harder to find. One guide spent the entire month of July dragging leeches on the weedline and caught only one bass over four pounds. Just five years ago he was catching five or more a day that size. No, the big bass haven t moved or quit biting, they are gone, many killed by bag tournaments.
What do we do? Require competitive events to make it mandatory that during any tournaments held in periods where the surface water temperature is above 75 degrees every boat must have auxiliary oxygenation equipment in their livewells. There are quite a few manufacturers that sell this equipment.
No more bags for weigh-in unless they are fully flow-through, and holding tanks must be provided to set the bags in while waiting to get on the scales. Perforated plastic boxes have proved to be the best holding device when used in conjunction with holding tanks.
The holding tanks must have water flowing through them or they must be oxygenated. Otherwise the fish-holding environment in those tanks is no better than a bag where the oxygen has been depleted.
The fish should not be released at the weigh-in site but should be shifted to a live-release pontoon for distribution into deeper water, or they can be put back in the angler s livewell for release into deeper water or put back in the spot where they were caught.
Smaller tournaments will say they can t afford this and will suffer. I say you can t afford not to do this. You can t afford the ill-will from the community every time carcasses of tournament fish float up onto the shoreline. You can t afford to have weekend anglers complaining about the poor fishing that is resulting from the constant barrage of bag weigh-ins. It will catch up to you.
The DNR issues permits for tournaments. The above requirements should be stipulated in the permit. A couple of interns should be sent out with an oxygen meter to spot monitor the events and make sure they comply. If not; no more permits for them. I ve been to dozens of tournaments in the past few years and have yet to see a DNR biologist there. It s something that should be a top priority if the resource is valued.
For those who think it s too much trouble to keep the fish alive, kill them. Fishing licenses allows you to harvest a limit. Kill the fish and give them to a food bank. At least they won t rot along a shoreline. But don t blame the data instead of the root cause.
What s that old saying? When you point a finger, you have three pointing back at yourself?""""

Once again thanks for reading it and feel free to comment.

Capt Mike

eyes · 09-08-06, 10:33 AM

Capt. Mike,
Why wouldn't small aerators for the weigh in bags help? We fish in tournaments but its a Hawg Hunt and we only keep one fish and we get them back in the water quick. So I don't beleive we loose many.

Captmikestarrett · 09-08-06, 11:38 AM

I think the consences is to not allow tourney after water temp hits a certain level and to release the fish in deep water via a release boat. Mesh bags and tanks while waiting for weigh in with areators and slime coat control in them. And if not a major tourney then use the measure board for recording length and photo fish. Release immediatly and only one fish for big fish allowed back to dock over a set size limit. This also could be done in big tourneys via wireless phones with cameras.. Think of it a tourney that is posted via web and photos. All the contestants can send in five fish photos to a preset number. You register your phone at check in..

Just an idea..

Capt Mike

zooker · 09-08-06, 10:38 PM

i read this articul my self a while ago from my understanding. they put 700 fish in a 500 gallon tank. the power went out or was shut off no aertors poff dead fishies.. no suprise the tourny fish died they were under stress as it was..this is all wrote out in flw magizine.. i think it was 2 months ago..

zooker

WTL · 09-08-06, 11:40 PM

Sadly, I believe that article to be accurate from what I have seen in the past. I think eventually we are going to get to the point where tournaments have to be covered by special legislation, and subject to being witness by wardens to make sure there is no careless endangerment of the resource. And as for the small tournies, well, it sucks, but it sucks more if they keep having them and killing fish at a high rate. I posted last year about a night tourney weighin I saw at Wheeler, where I just happened to put my boat on the trailer when all the folks started releasing their fish. One by one they emptied bag after bag into the creek (it was about 88 degrees water temp). The fish mostly floated away. Rather than looking at the fish floating, each angler kinda put the bags in blindly and quickly scampered back up the dock as if they knew what they were doing, but werent going to acknolodge it. Having struggled that day for a few dinks myself (which was pretty much all anybody had), it turned my stomach.

They need to change the way they do things. I don't want to see tournaments go away, but things have got to change or they will fish us out. I laughed when I read the article above cause it mentioned that minnatonka has a tourney a week. Including multiple tourneys on weekends down here, we sometimes get close to a tourney a day I think. Last time I fished the elk river I came in at 11 at night on a thursday expecting to be able to go right up to my truck and not wait at the ramp...wrong, 11 pm on a thursday apparently was when another tourney decided to weigh in. That is just nuts. 11 at night on a thursday and there are 30 or so boats weighing in fish.

flfireman · 09-09-06, 12:22 AM

Better aeration systems may be the key. I believe they should develop a kind of floating shock absorbing livewell. I feel most of the trauma caused too the fish is the race back to the dock. Probably not a feasible idea but if someone comes up w/ a better way they will be rich.

thebus71h · 09-11-06, 11:36 PM

Most of the tourney's that we fish around here are on lakes and resivoirs that you can't run anything but a 10 horse motor, so everybody just uses their trolling motors anyway.

But we've always released our fish in the deepest point off of the docks, and really haven't seen a drop off of fish being caught. The ones we do see floating have gouges in them like something bigger tried eating them.

Actually, the last few tournaments that I've fished in, everybody come out of the water, and left the fish in the livewells, and they stayed there until it was there time to weigh, put them in the bag, then put them on the scales. Once they're done, they let them go back in the lake.

Captmikestarrett · 09-12-06, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thebus71h

Most of the tourney's that we fish around here are on lakes and resivoirs that you can't run anything but a 10 horse motor, so everybody just uses their trolling motors anyway.

But we've always released our fish in the deepest point off of the docks, and really haven't seen a drop off of fish being caught. The ones we do see floating have gouges in them like something bigger tried eating them.

Actually, the last few tournaments that I've fished in, everybody come out of the water, and left the fish in the livewells, and they stayed there until it was there time to weigh, put them in the bag, then put them on the scales. Once they're done, they let them go back in the lake.

Suggest a catch photo release format next time. Give each person in tourny a yardstick from a local hardware store. Put the stick down and lay fish over it. Photo from as high up as possible. Have laptop at end of tourny to up load pictures. Tote sheet will record five best fish. Length wins.

It makes it fun because there can be no culling..pick the best five as you fish.. Now that is a challenge..

Capt Mike

Fish2win · 09-12-06, 04:10 PM

Every summer during dog days this topic comes up. I have heard it for many years and even took part in a study conducted by the Tennessee Tech Univ. Yes it is very true that tournament released fish have a high mortality during the times of the year when the water temps are very high. Warmer water conatins less oxygen and the fish suffer more stress. Often the fish come from much deeper water and simple get the bends . Fish are often mishandled by the angler causing injury or other problems that contribute to thier premature death. The reasons are para-mount.
The studies that are done are correct ,however why not do the same studies in October or March when the water temps are lower and the fish shallower. Then the delayed mortality is very low.
Many organizations that I know have banned tournaments in July and August, They feel the results even in night tournaments which are very popular in East Tennessee are unaceptable.Others are limiting the catch to three fish per angler . In any case catch and release is better than catch and kill. Fish2win

09-08-06, 09:37 AM	#1
Captmikestarrett BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: May 2006 Location: Accokeek MD Posts: 3,315	Fish mortality I recieved this email from some fellow conservation groups. Now do not get upset about it but do respond to with your thoughts. Also I know it breaks the the 20 line rule but give it try and read it all. Thanks Capt Mike The truth about delayed mortality By Tim Lesmeister """In the July 28 issue of Outdoor News there was a wire-service story about an FLW bass tournament on the Mississippi River where the delayed mortality was high. They discovered this because DNR and fishery biology researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point performed a delayed-mortality study. Here is what I find interesting. The comment by a tournament official was, clearly we re all concerned, about the fish deaths. But he adds, we have a lot to learn about how to conduct the study. I find this comment to be typical of tournament organizers. They should be doing more to make sure those fish don t die instead of blaming the study. There were two groups of fish in that study: a control group that had been captured by electroshocking that were penned, and a group of tournament fish that had a fin clipped to show they were part of the tournament weigh-in process. The 582 bass that were found dead all had clipped fins. It never fails. Every time there is a delayed mortality study the tournament fish show up dead and the tournament organizers always try to find fault with the study. The simple truth is that the tournaments are killing the fish. It s not the anglers that are killing those fish, at least not most of the time on the majority of the fish. Livewells in boats are now coming standard with oxygenating equipment and anglers know how to keep that equipment clean and running. There are times when the water at a weigh-in site is low in oxygen due to stagnation and temperature, but the livewells with oxygenation can negate that condition. There are seldom more than a few fish that were hooked badly that will cause death. The majority of the dead fish, almost all of them, die of suffocation from the boat to the scales. Tournaments love using bags to hold fish. These plastic bags hold a few gallons of water and a half-dozen fish and anglers are instructed to put the fish in the bag and bring them to the scales. Typically these fish can be in that bag from a minute to an hour or sometimes even longer. Studies and there have been lots of them show that the oxygen in this bag is depleted in less than two minutes. This means that from two minutes on those fish are suffocating. After about four minutes the fish is basically going to succumb to delayed mortality. From the tournaments I have attended in the past few years I would state that there have been no bag tournaments that did not result in a complete loss of the fish that were brought in to weigh. It s simple math. If the fish are in the bag for more than a few minutes they will die. I have yet to see a bag tournament where this doesn t happen. But why don t the tournament organizers understand this and quit weighing fish this way? It s too easy to use bags. And, organizers don t immediately see the mortality from their refusal to see the problem. When bass or walleyes are released after a bag weigh-in, they swim to the bottom where they eventually suffocate. They sit there to deteriorate and be eaten by turtles. Some might bloat and float but they ll get picked up by gulls or turtles or eventually wash away from the tournament site. Organizers are long gone and getting ready for their next kill fest. Are there long-range implications here? You bet. On Lake Minnetonka where there is a tournament nearly every week from June through August, the delayed mortality is having an effect. I was discussing bass fishing with two guides who spend four to six days a week on this west-metro lake and they say big bass are getting harder to find. One guide spent the entire month of July dragging leeches on the weedline and caught only one bass over four pounds. Just five years ago he was catching five or more a day that size. No, the big bass haven t moved or quit biting, they are gone, many killed by bag tournaments. What do we do? Require competitive events to make it mandatory that during any tournaments held in periods where the surface water temperature is above 75 degrees every boat must have auxiliary oxygenation equipment in their livewells. There are quite a few manufacturers that sell this equipment. No more bags for weigh-in unless they are fully flow-through, and holding tanks must be provided to set the bags in while waiting to get on the scales. Perforated plastic boxes have proved to be the best holding device when used in conjunction with holding tanks. The holding tanks must have water flowing through them or they must be oxygenated. Otherwise the fish-holding environment in those tanks is no better than a bag where the oxygen has been depleted. The fish should not be released at the weigh-in site but should be shifted to a live-release pontoon for distribution into deeper water, or they can be put back in the angler s livewell for release into deeper water or put back in the spot where they were caught. Smaller tournaments will say they can t afford this and will suffer. I say you can t afford not to do this. You can t afford the ill-will from the community every time carcasses of tournament fish float up onto the shoreline. You can t afford to have weekend anglers complaining about the poor fishing that is resulting from the constant barrage of bag weigh-ins. It will catch up to you. The DNR issues permits for tournaments. The above requirements should be stipulated in the permit. A couple of interns should be sent out with an oxygen meter to spot monitor the events and make sure they comply. If not; no more permits for them. I ve been to dozens of tournaments in the past few years and have yet to see a DNR biologist there. It s something that should be a top priority if the resource is valued. For those who think it s too much trouble to keep the fish alive, kill them. Fishing licenses allows you to harvest a limit. Kill the fish and give them to a food bank. At least they won t rot along a shoreline. But don t blame the data instead of the root cause. What s that old saying? When you point a finger, you have three pointing back at yourself?"""" Once again thanks for reading it and feel free to comment. Capt Mike __________________ Capt Mike Starrett light tackle guide Potomac River http://www.indianheadcharters.com

09-08-06, 11:38 AM	#3
Captmikestarrett BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: May 2006 Location: Accokeek MD Posts: 3,315	Solution? I think the consences is to not allow tourney after water temp hits a certain level and to release the fish in deep water via a release boat. Mesh bags and tanks while waiting for weigh in with areators and slime coat control in them. And if not a major tourney then use the measure board for recording length and photo fish. Release immediatly and only one fish for big fish allowed back to dock over a set size limit. This also could be done in big tourneys via wireless phones with cameras.. Think of it a tourney that is posted via web and photos. All the contestants can send in five fish photos to a preset number. You register your phone at check in.. Just an idea.. Capt Mike __________________ Capt Mike Starrett light tackle guide Potomac River http://www.indianheadcharters.com

09-08-06, 10:38 PM	#4
zooker BassFishin.Com Premier Elite Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: denton nc Posts: 13,441	i read this articul my self a while ago from my understanding. they put 700 fish in a 500 gallon tank. the power went out or was shut off no aertors poff dead fishies.. no suprise the tourny fish died they were under stress as it was..this is all wrote out in flw magizine.. i think it was 2 months ago.. zooker __________________ the godfather.. aml in remission since 7-20-09

09-08-06, 11:40 PM	#5
WTL BassFishin.Com Premier Elite Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Huntsville, Al Posts: 7,466	Sadly, I believe that article to be accurate from what I have seen in the past. I think eventually we are going to get to the point where tournaments have to be covered by special legislation, and subject to being witness by wardens to make sure there is no careless endangerment of the resource. And as for the small tournies, well, it sucks, but it sucks more if they keep having them and killing fish at a high rate. I posted last year about a night tourney weighin I saw at Wheeler, where I just happened to put my boat on the trailer when all the folks started releasing their fish. One by one they emptied bag after bag into the creek (it was about 88 degrees water temp). The fish mostly floated away. Rather than looking at the fish floating, each angler kinda put the bags in blindly and quickly scampered back up the dock as if they knew what they were doing, but werent going to acknolodge it. Having struggled that day for a few dinks myself (which was pretty much all anybody had), it turned my stomach. They need to change the way they do things. I don't want to see tournaments go away, but things have got to change or they will fish us out. I laughed when I read the article above cause it mentioned that minnatonka has a tourney a week. Including multiple tourneys on weekends down here, we sometimes get close to a tourney a day I think. Last time I fished the elk river I came in at 11 at night on a thursday expecting to be able to go right up to my truck and not wait at the ramp...wrong, 11 pm on a thursday apparently was when another tourney decided to weigh in. That is just nuts. 11 at night on a thursday and there are 30 or so boats weighing in fish. __________________ Selling live waterdogs for less since 2005.

09-09-06, 12:22 AM	#6
flfireman BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Palm Bay, Fl Posts: 2,751	Better aeration systems may be the key. I believe they should develop a kind of floating shock absorbing livewell. I feel most of the trauma caused too the fish is the race back to the dock. Probably not a feasible idea but if someone comes up w/ a better way they will be rich. __________________ In the Lord all things are possible.

09-08-06, 10:33 AM	#2
eyes BassFishin.Com Active Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Leroy, Michigan Posts: 187	Capt. Mike, Why wouldn't small aerators for the weigh in bags help? We fish in tournaments but its a Hawg Hunt and we only keep one fish and we get them back in the water quick. So I don't beleive we loose many.

09-11-06, 11:36 PM	#7
thebus71h BassFishin.Com Active Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Liberty, IN Posts: 135	Most of the tourney's that we fish around here are on lakes and resivoirs that you can't run anything but a 10 horse motor, so everybody just uses their trolling motors anyway. But we've always released our fish in the deepest point off of the docks, and really haven't seen a drop off of fish being caught. The ones we do see floating have gouges in them like something bigger tried eating them. Actually, the last few tournaments that I've fished in, everybody come out of the water, and left the fish in the livewells, and they stayed there until it was there time to weigh, put them in the bag, then put them on the scales. Once they're done, they let them go back in the lake.

09-12-06, 04:10 PM	#9
Fish2win BassFishin.Com Active Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Norris Tennessee Posts: 469	Every summer during dog days this topic comes up. I have heard it for many years and even took part in a study conducted by the Tennessee Tech Univ. Yes it is very true that tournament released fish have a high mortality during the times of the year when the water temps are very high. Warmer water conatins less oxygen and the fish suffer more stress. Often the fish come from much deeper water and simple get the bends . Fish are often mishandled by the angler causing injury or other problems that contribute to thier premature death. The reasons are para-mount. The studies that are done are correct ,however why not do the same studies in October or March when the water temps are lower and the fish shallower. Then the delayed mortality is very low. Many organizations that I know have banned tournaments in July and August, They feel the results even in night tournaments which are very popular in East Tennessee are unaceptable.Others are limiting the catch to three fish per angler . In any case catch and release is better than catch and kill. Fish2win __________________ Norris Tennessee set the hook! They dont have hands.

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