the speaker at the sbcba meeting last night did a presentation on post release cod mortality using acoustic tagging. a couple of interesting points were that only 20% of the fish released didn't survive as opposed to the 50% mortality rate noaa uses as a baseline. the other thing is that most of the fish that didn't make it were caught on jigs with treble hooks. so swap out those big ass trebles for single hooks. one other thing that came up is that the whole idea of site fidelity, staying in the same area for extended periods of time, seems to be somewhat inaccurate. some fish are hanging around spots for weeks and others are constantly traveling all over

Guys,
What Niko said...
The info last night at the SBCBA "Stellwagen Bank Charter Boat Association" meeting was really good and something most of us can learn from. Its a good blend of fisheries management, regulations and great info on most salt water fish (Pelagic, Groundfish, Striped Bass, etc). Anyone interested should attend and join, meetings are currently open to everyone. This group is not just for Charter Captains as many members are recreational fisherman and the group pushes for fishermans rights and fish stock sustainability based off of GOOD science. Meetings are very informative and have some of the best fisherman in the area in attendance. Its a pretty laid back group and the guest speakers are typically top notch. Meetings are the second Tuesday of every month at 7PM at "The Tavern" in Marshfield (off 139 behind Roche Brothers). It's a good and open atmosphere and you can order food and drinks during the meeting.
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I'm kind of shocked that this is new news.
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Bet most of the difference in mortality is related to the number of fish foul hooked