This week, I want to discuss rockfish conservation. Over the past few weeks, I’ve discussed how rockfish are more vulnerable to overfishing than most species of fish, and non-pelagic rockfish populations are particularly fragile. Rockfish prefer rocky habitats where anglers can easily find and target them, and rockfish are quick to take a lure, making them easy to catch. Also, they grow quickly but mature slowly, so they are often caught before they can reproduce and sustain their population. It is their physiology, though, not their lifestyle which makes rockfish susceptible to annihilation by anglers.
Rockfish rarely survive catch-and-release fishing because they have an unvented swim bladder. The swim bladder is a balloon-like organ which adjusts the buoyancy of a fish. As the fish ascends toward the surface, the swim bladder inflates. If the swim bladder has a vent, it can easily again deflate when the fish dives, but a rockfish cannot quickly deflate its swim bladder, and since the fish normally remains in deep water, it has no need to make large adjustments in the inflation or deflation of its bladder. When an angler catches a rockfish, though, and reels it to the surface, the gasses in the swim bladder expand and compress internal organs. Often, by the time the fish reaches the surface, the stomach bulges into the mouth cavity. Other common pressure-change injuries include ruptured swim bladders, ruptured blood vessels in internal organs, and bulging eyes or gas bubbles in the eyes.
Once the swim bladder of a rockfish has completely expanded, it will not likely deflate on its own because it does not have a vent. If the angler releases a fish with an inflated swim bladder, the fish floats on the surface until it suffocates, or something eats it. Gulls often land near floating fish and peck out its eyes while the fish is still alive.
Rockfish are good to eat and are harvested in commercial, sport, and subsistence fisheries from California to Alaska. Anglers have depleted many rockfish populations from British Columbia to California, and even when fisheries managers enact strict regulations or completely ban fishing in certain areas, these populations are slow to recover. Only older rockfish can reproduce, and few rockfish larvae survive to reach maturity.
Rockfish are not easy to manage because they live in deep, rocky spots where biologists cannot employ traditional sampling techniques. In Alaska, researchers do not know the abundance of most rockfish stocks, so fisheries managers have elected to implement strict regulations for catching and retaining rockfish, especially for yelloweye and other non-pelagic rockfish. Since even the rockfish anglers release are likely to die, though, biologists now focus on informing anglers of the fragility of rockfish populations.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game distributes literature to sportfishing guides and posts informational signs near boat ramps to encourage anglers to follow these guidelines to avoid catching rockfish or to at least minimize rockfish harvest.
- If you are not targeting rockfish, avoid fishing where you are likely to catch them. Rockfish inhabit the steep sides of rock piles and reefs. Lingcod are found at the top of rock piles and reefs, and halibut lie on the flat bottom near a reef.
- If you are targeting lingcod or halibut, keep your jig 10-15 ft. (3-5 m) off the bottom. Researchers in Oregon found this technique significantly reduced rockfish bycatch but did not affect the odds of catching halibut and actually increased the success rate for landing lingcod.
- If you want to retain a few rockfish along with other species, target the other species first and retain any incidental rockfish you catch.
- Fish with a circle hook. Circle hooks stick in the mouth and are not ingested, so they are easier to release and less likely to cause a serious injury.
- Remember, rockfish only have a freezer life of four months, so don’t catch more than you can eat.
- If targeting rockfish, implement deep-water-release methods.
In my next post, I will discuss deep-water-release techniques in more detail. This simple concept produces surprisingly successful results.
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Several weeks ago, I mentioned the Reader’s and Writer’s Book Club started by my publisher and some of my fellow authors. You can still claim your free lifetime membership to the club by following this link, but free membership will end within the next few weeks. I am currently writing a mystery with the aid of club members, and I invite you to join the fun!
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Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.
