2 April 2017 News/Editorial
With yours truly reportedly in the dock with Tweed anglers and boatmen, care of some strong views expressed in this column last week about what is and what is not acceptable when photographing fish before release, it may do no good, but I will try to explain the rationale for those strong views.
1. Let us be clear that the only reason we rods are allowed to fish at all in February and March is because we can do so without killing what we catch. It is illegal to kill salmon, a criminal offence, until 31st March, and even after that date the River Tweed Commissioners (RTC) are seeking to have “not killing them” given the force of law by having the Tweed declared a Category 1 river until 15th June for the nets, and 30th June for the rods.
2. The reasoning behind “not killing” is because Tweed’s spring salmon stock is sufficiently weak that as many as possible of the spring run needs to survive to spawn. In short, there is no “harvestable surplus”.
3. For those who think that catch and release is the ultimate safeguard for fish surviving, that is not the view of the Irish Government. They have a long list of Irish rivers which they call “closed”, where numbers are so bad that no fishing at all, rod or net, is allowed. One imagines they have done this because they know what we all know, that even 100% catch and release rod fishing involves casualties, mainly because some salmon, albeit mercifully few, swallow the hook and bleed to death.
4. That being so, we rod fisherman should treat the fact that we are still allowed to fish for spring fish, even though they are just about at subsistence level and no more, as a privilege, not a right. Crucially, we are only allowed to do so because, unlike net fishing, we can do it while inflicting minimal casualties. No-one here is saying this is at all likely to happen in Scotland, but if numbers of spring fish declined very much further, there could be moves to go along the Irish model of having whole rivers, or periods of time on rivers, “closed” to all fishing, not just net fishing, so that 100% of that run of salmon survives to spawn.
5. It is the clear advice from all responsible fishing organisations, especially because spring fish have to survive in the river until October before they can spawn, that anyone privileged enough to catch a springer, should obey certain basic rules to ensure its survival, post release. These basic rules include, but are not limited to, the following; hook numbers (fewer), size of hooks (smaller), barbs (fewer and smaller); not playing a fish for too long to avoid overtiring it; landing it in a knotless net to avoid damaging its protective scales; if not in a net, then by beaching it/ manually tailing it without hauling it up the gravel out of the water or onto the bank; once secured, preferably still in the water, handle it as little as possible to avoid damaging scales; if possible, do not lift it out of the water at all; once unhooked, upright and clearly breathing properly, when you can feel its strength returning, let it go back from the water margins into the main river; if you can, watch carefully as it swims away to ensure it remains upright, until you can no longer see it. There has to be sensible lassitude in these generally accepted rules depending on the immediate water environment, especially when fishing out of a boat and unable to land anywhere shallow, because eg the fish, once in the net, may have to be lifted into the boat to be unhooked.
6. So far, so good. I hope not too many people will disagree with much, if any, of 1-5 above.
7. Enter the mobile phone, the smartphone, or whatever other device you have which can instantly take a picture.
8. All of 1-5 above, or so it sometimes seems, are jettisoned and, quite suddenly, the need for a picture takes precedence over everything, especially what should be the absolute priority……... to save the life of the fish, to not damage it and to not keep it out in the air at all, or for no more than a very few ...(say) 5... seconds. Too often the salmon is lifted way out of the water, with no regard to clear advice from a study done in America pointing to the lower fecundity/fertility of released salmon which had been removed from the water into the air. So why would anyone lift a salmon well out of the water simply to take a picture of it? Why would they not only lift it well out of the water, but also stick one hand into its stomach, with the whole weight of the salmon squashing its stomach onto the successful captor’s hand? All the while gripping it, for a prolonged period as a picture is taken, above the tail, in the process, quite probably, removing or damaging its protective scales. For how long, how many vital seconds, are such fish taken well out of the water, into the air, which effectively drowns them?
9. All of this is unnecessary. It is perfectly possible to picture a fish while it remains largely in the water, if the fisherman kneels in the river with it, just with a guiding hand on (not tightly gripping) the tail, or by lifting it, whilst still kneeling beside it in the water, momentarily just on/above the water, one hand on the tail and other under its chin or its side, not its stomach.
When I look at other websites, twitter, facebook and other fishing publications, sadly by far the majority of their photos break at least one of the rules, some break them all.
Of course, some (thankfully not all) successful anglers want a memento of the fish they catch, but this should never be at the expense of the future health, fertility and fecundity of the fish itself.
Too often it is.
If we allow this to go on, we are no better than those nets who we would revile if they were to start killing salmon immediately after 1st April. We, the rods, have to be whiter than white to justify the privilege of being allowed to go on catching our spring fish, when the nets cannot.
It is for these reasons that Tweedbeats will only publish pictures of fish caught, when it is apparent from the pictures that the basic rules for ensuring the wellbeing of the fish itself have been obeyed.
Hopefully others will do the same, but maybe only if they really care about the fish..
They may not.
our twitter feed