Based on the available science, it should be legal for anglers to use “rapid-descent devices” to release deepwater fish rather than have to rely solely on venting.That’s a conclusion reached at a recent two-and-one-half-day barotrauma workshop in Saint Petersburg, Florida, by 55 fisheries researchers, managers and others. Barotrauma is the technical term for a deepwater fish “blowing up” as an angler reels it to the surface, a debilitating condition caused when the slight amount of gas normally in a fish’s swim bladder to keep it neutrally bouyant expands dramatically and suddenly, filling the gut cavity and forcing the fish’s inverted stomach out its mouth.Barotrauma is a huge factor in the management of fish that anglers commonly catch below 100 or so feet — such as red snapper. It’s also a huge problem with no easy ...Image may be NSFW.
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