Tom Raftican, president of the Sportfishing Conservancy has long believed that anglers should be the ones taking the lead on marine environmental issues. “If anglers are not the ones leading the charge to protect fish and the oceans environment, someone else will,” he said. Raftican and the Sportfishing Conservancy staff were on board the ½ day boat Southern Cal out of Pierpoint Landing on Saturday with the West Marine Fish Elevator.
The elevator was designed to help resuscitate rockfish suffering from barotrauma by giving them a ride back to the approximate depth where there were caught and releasing them for a much better survival rate. An underwater camera revealed that the vast majority of fish seemed to swim away in great shape.
The toss back trips are even more appealing to anglers as a jackpot is awarded to the angler who catches and releases more than the others. As fish come on board, they are measured before being released. The angler with the most inches by the end of the day gets the jackpot. The Sportfishing Conservancy kicks in $50 to get the pot going so at a minimum, the toss back champion for the day goes home with 50 bucks.
Since catch and release may hit the crew in the wallet for lack of fish to filet, Raftican kicks in $100 to them. “The goal here is to induce more catch and release fishing so that we will have even more fish to catch in the future.”
Many anglers have been frustrated in the past when they have had to return a rockfish to the sea because of size or possession limits that would just float on the surface, suffering from the effects of barotrauma. The West Marine Fish Elevator seems to have addressed this problem and while not perfect, seemed to produce excellent results in survivability for rockfish that had been yanked up from the depths too fast.
Hunters have long ago led the charge to be environmentalists. Some argue that Ducks Unlimited has done more for the environment and several species of birds than any environmental group. Fishermen are now catching on and most are in favor of doing whatever it takes to make sure fish stocks and the oceans environment are well taken care of.
“Who loves the ocean more than angler’s?” asked Raftican. “As long as we do our part in taking care of this precious gift, there will be more fish to catch in our future.”
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