The evolution of Catch and Release

[Paul Arden]

To give everyone an idea as to how far we are away on this: the lake I live on is divided into two zones. North - Royal Belum, South, Temenggor. It’s 80km top to bottom. Royal Belum is a state park, in order to access you need a permit. To boat the south you need to have your boat locally registered - fortunately this is also a little bit complicated. Army and police do patrol the lake since it is very close to Thailand.

But there are no fishing licenses, quotas, size restrictions. Netting is allowed only by the Orang Asli. But there is netting and lots of it. You are not allowed to take fish out of Royal Belum for some years but you can eat your catch there.

Putting in some strict regulations into one river, purely for C&R angling, that has a great outcome will hopefully be a start of real change. Large adult Snakehead and in particular actively paired and parenting Snakehead should be C&R only.

Cheers, Paul

[Carol]

So I asked Colorado Parks and Wildlife whether they would consider requiring anglers to watch a video regarding best catch and release practices before getting a fishing license. The video could also instruct anglers about redds, what they are, where to find them, what they look like, and why to stay off of them. Basically the response I got was that it's a matter of ethics, except in certain situations. In response to that I asked why it's an ethics issue in certain situations and a violation of a regulation in others. Further, why is it a matter of personal ethics in Colorado that I stop fishing for browns at a certain time of year, while in other states it's called the end of fishing season? It made me realize that regulations are codified ethics. If you cannot get people to adopt good ethics, then you have to mandate proper behavior.

[Paul Arden]

I’ve been thinking about this Carol. It sounds to me that whoever you talked to is not a strong advocate of C&R and has made it an ethics issue. There are people who think it’s unethical to fish for fun, but it becomes ok if you eat them. It’s their way of justifying it. (It sounds very Puritan to me!)

I personally think it’s a great idea and we will make everyone watch a fish releasing video before they fish Sungai Tiang. Anyone caught violating any rules will be fed to the tigers. It means we lose repeat customers but at least we get to keep the fish.

Cheers, Paul

[Carol]

There also can be education on what happens to a fish's gill filaments when kept out of the water too long: The filaments dry and stick together. And putting them back in the water doesn't necessarily guarantee they will rehydrate and unstick. It's essentially damaging their lungs, giving them COPD. So even if they survive, they may not thrive or have enough capacity to escape predators. This is per Dr. Aaron Adams, who specializes in fish ecology research. You can read about him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-adams-75691a13