Return them right

[oldmanjoe]

 There was a discussion going on ,    https://alantani.com/index.php/topic,38336.msg452637.html#msg452637

 Were we wander in to bring fish up from bottom , and the fish suffer barometric trauma .     
" Barotrauma is physical tissue damage caused by an unrelieved pressure differential between a surrounding gas or fluid and an unvented body cavity (e.g., sinuses, lungs), or across a tissue plane. The damage is due to compressive/ expansive forces and shear, leading to overstretching of tissues."

   The state of Florida has a program to teach you how to treat this .
https://www.floridasportsman.com/editorial/return-em-right/458644

They even send you a descending tools free when you the online course :

Return 'Em Right offers Gulf of Mexico anglers the opportunity to register for their 15-minute online review of best practices at returnemright.org. Upon completion of the training, Return 'Em Right will send a package to you, free of charge, of gear necessary to improve survival of released reef fish. The kit includes two descending devices, lead, and all of the tools you'll need to safely return fish to the bottom. This is an exceptional value (over $100 retail value) and an excellent measure to ensure that your release practices support the current and future health of reef fish.

https://www.floridasportsman.com/editorial/return-em-right/458644

[Gfish]

Nice! Thanks Joe!

[steelfish]

I made my effort to keep healthy fisheries on this side of Baja too, let me show you

I made a video of a the SeaQualizer which was used on that video, my intention was to show options to our local pangueros (boat panga captains) on how to return safety a fish with problems of barotrauma, on the Sea of Cortez there is not much problem with barotrauma on fish because there are not many deep reefs or really deep fisheries for sport fishing, so, mostly this apply to the pacific ocean at the other side of Baja, either way I had the opportunity to test the SeaQualizer and shared this video to local captains and some authorities.

my compadre Lee sent me the SeaQualizer as well as those other auto-release Pin showed on that video

the video is in Spanish, sorry

[MexicanGulf]

Interesting

[Maxed Out]

 Decending device is a law in our state. Has been for several years. The law states the device must be on a rod and ready to deploy when bottom fishing. It's one law that everyone agrees with !!

[Brewcrafter]

Good videos from Joe and Alex there.  And Ted is spot on; same thing here in California, if you are groundfishing it is mandatory to have both a descending device ready to go as well as a landing net with a mouth opening not less than 18" in diameter in order to allow the unhooking and release of sub-legal species (halibut and lingcod both have a minimum size, to name a few).  There is some good info on the CADFW website, and venting or "fizzing" is strongly discouraged.  We have been checked for both by the wardens on multiple occasions, it's a good set of regs (and gives me a reason to still keep a couple of those 4# rockcod weights that we used up in Morro Bay 45 years ago  ). - john

[Bill B]

Wonder if DFG would fund a study on the effectiveness of the devices.  Maybe have a few of our intrepid anglers catch some rock cod, tag them, and catch later for a mortality rate.

[Keta]

For well over a decade OCEAN, Oregon Coalition Educating Anglers, has been educating and advocating anglers on using barotrama releases and the importance.  We have given away thousands of barotrama releases, not only in Oregon but around the world.  We have even given away well over 1000 high $, but the best releases, Seaquilizers.  I have personaly given out well over 100, including the ones I sent to Alex. 

We met some restance at first but when ODFW fianaly made it mandatory to have a release ready to deploy when bottom fishing it was accepted, in fact a large % of informed anglers wanted it.  Washington State was not far behind.

Bill,
ODFW and a few other OCEAN board members and volunteers did a tag and release study on survival.  Fish do survive but the deeper they are caught the lower the survival.  Unfortunatly I was not able to help this study.

John,
A big bloated yelloweye can float 4#, my release setup uses 6#.  I also have my Seaquilizers rigged on SS  cable due to sharks taking a few from friends.

[Brewcrafter]

John,
A big bloated yelloweye can float 4#, my release setup uses 6#.  I also have my Seaquilizers rigged on SS  cable due to sharks taking a few from friends.

Lee - I remember those fish...and they ain't down here in SoCal anymore!  I don't think Hardy Boy Todd believed me when I fished with him last summer in Port Hardy and told him that pretty much any of the rockcod we caught that day would have been jackpot contenders on a SoCal bottomfish boat. - john

[Keta]

Targeting and over harvesting slow maturing fish does that.  We still have a lot of yelloweye but they are managed with CA numbers.