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The way they do these studies is to catch fish , put them in a holding tank , take them to an impound pond , release them into the new pond , then count the fish that go belly up. I know from my aquarium days that simply handling fish like that and moving them around from cold ocean water to warm tanks to who knows what ponds , kills fish.
The second point I would make is that I've witnissed thousands of fish caught in a small area in a single day. Some dead fish washed up. However , if the mortality rate was even 10 % , there would have been dead fish washing up everywhere.
We jig fish at the canal. Them fish are brought in fast , no part of the fish is touched except the lip , they are out of the water , unhooked , and back in in 30 seconds. I honestly feel that of the hundreds of fish we catch each year , fewer than a handful have any chance of dying. The ones that might die have been accidently dropped. Those are few and far between.
I have seen large fish landed on too light equipment. They come in too tired after a long fight and usually won't even revive and swim away (Thats why I use a pool cue with 50 LB Spectron to bring them in quickly). Fish in that kind of condition should be kept to provide food and therefore save a healthy "keeper" you catch at a later date.
I also hate to see people put a foot on the fish to keep it down while they struggle with a hook. Mistreating the fish will cause some to die and thats a good reason why we should all show the clueless the proper way to handle a fish so that released fish have a good chance of survival.
Anyway , long winded way of saying that what is reported in this study just doesn't match what I've seen over the years on the water.
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