Reported Striper Mortality Rate ~14% at 63 Deg F

[I][B]Striper Mortality[/B][/I]

For those concerned or interested in the mortality rate associated with catch and release of stripers, here are some links to what science has to say on the subject. It occurs in both cool as well as warm water, although the rate increases with warmer temperatures.

[B]In the Hudson River Study, they found the mortality rate for catch and release to be about 14%. Water temperature was reported to range from 12 C (54F) to 17 C (63F [/B]

[B]See links below for full report, as well as the Google Scholar search for additional studies on the subject.[/B]

[B]Link to Report on Hudson River Study; [B]Mortality Associated with Catch and Release Angling of Striped Bass and American Shad in the Hudson River[/B]:[/B]
[B][URL]http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/finalreport2003.pdf[/URL] [/B]

[B]Link to Google Scholar Search Results; [/B]
[B][URL]http://scholar.google.com/scholar?start=0&q=striped+bass+catch+release+mortality&hl=en&as_sdt=1,18[/URL][/B]

This is exactly why I cringe from my head to my toe when I hear someone boasting of catching 50 plus stripers in a day, yes it's fun to do but alot of them die and I have always thought this after learning about them and their metabalism. Simply put Stripers DO NOT do stress well AT ALL. I will say though the young juvenile fish do much better and ones that are caught shallow versus deep also have a good chance of survival.

Just my 2 cents.

I've wondered how they do this test for mortality. Do they catch say 50 fish, tag all 50, then see how many of the tagged fish bubble to the top? How can they be sure they found all 50 tested? How can they be sure all 50 were hooked exactly the same way, and were all at the same depth? Do they catch the fish and check their overall health, before subjected the same sample group to being hook caught, tagged then released? I just wonder what the controls are on their data sampling. And teh sampling data article said after being caught, the stripers were put into a controlled environment tank where the researchers watched for the fish to react or die. So how do we know this doesn't only prove Stripers have a high mortality rate when held in tanks?

A study of this nature is very difficult to do. There are so many variables that have to be taken into consideration and many of which there is almost no way to come up with controls for to make to project doable. There have been several attempts to determine delayed mortality in game species. They all come to the same conclusion in that delayed mortality should be considered in management but there is just such a large variance in the mortality rates between all these studies that it makes it difficult to use a set range for fisheries managers.
If you read this study carefully, then you would have noticed that the average percentage of gut hooked fish was about 35%. That's a large percentage of the sample base to only have a 16% mortality rate that was suggested.
During some of my fisheries classes I came across some studies that actually suggested that holding fish in cages or tanks actually did add to the mortality rates. The best way to determine delayed mortality rates would be the use of radio tags but these are not really an option due to the greater price tag that these tags carry with them and the financial restraints that almost all studies have.
You have to understand folks, that most of the studies of this nature are done by graduate students and in a few cases undergrads that are either operating on a small grant and a lot of volunteer time or nearly no money at all.
But all in all this is a good study that suggests the importance of delayed mortality in the management of our fisheries and mostly the importance of us as anglers in making better decisions concerning our angling styles, and the proper care of the fish concerning play time and hook placement conerning delayed mortality.
Lee Bishop

[QUOTE=HURRICANEBOB;450566] I just wonder what the controls are on their data sampling. And teh sampling data article said after being caught, the stripers were put into a controlled environment tank where the researchers watched for the fish to react or die. So how do we know this doesn't only prove Stripers have a high mortality rate when held in tanks?[/QUOTE]

See page 2 of the report for details of the "control group".