Measurable Improvements In Survival Of Released Fish And Fish Welfare By Working With High Profile Fishing Competitions – An Australian Experience

Over 3.5 million Australians fish recreationally each year. “Fishing” has a strong social license to operate here. Urbanisation and modernisation are though contributing to a change in attitudes towards animal welfare, including fish.

Anglers want to better understand the fish they catch, including how to minimise unnecessary stress and give any fish released the best chance of survival. Furthermore, the increasing use of slot limits by regulators relies on survival of released fish for accurate modelling.

This project addressed fish welfare issues within the recreational fishing sector, focussing on two important fish targeted recreationally, snapper (Pagrus auratus) and Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii). Working with high profile fishing competitions in Australia and with competing anglers, issues of fish welfare were assessed in the first year of competition, and then strategies to communicate information and education to the recreational anglers were developed before the second year’s event.

Some in the recreational fishing community fear the term “fish welfare” and consider it as having the potential to shut down their fisheries and curb their enjoyment of fishing. This project showed that this is not necessarily the case. Anglers who embrace fish welfare can positively increase the social acceptance of recreational fishing.