Development of a Multi-Fish Descending Device in the Mid-Atlantic: Cooperative Barotrauma Research with the Recreational for-Hire Industry

Extension staff from New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia worked with for-hire boat captains on the first regional collaboration to design and test prototype multi-fish descending devices in the Mid-Atlantic.  From October 2014 through July 2015, seven field trials were completed and seven multi-fish descending device prototypes were developed and tested.  More than 200 fishes were descended in the study, and 161 of these were tagged and released for information regarding long-term survivorship and success of the descending devices.  Of the 227 fishes that were descended in the prototype devices, 146 (64.3 percent) were successfully released, as determined by GoPro video depicting fish movement out of the descending device once recompressed.  Angler outreach during each trial showed strong support for charter captains using a multi-fish descending device.