Socially induced stress and behavioural inhibition in response to angling exposure in rainbow trout

Abstract

It is well known that fish can learn to avoid angling gear after experiencing a catch-and-release event, that is, after a private hooking experience. However, the possible importance of social information cues and their influence on an individual's vulnerability to angling remains largely unexplored, that is, social experience of a conspecific capture. The effects of private and social experience of hooking on the stress response of fish and subsequent catch rates were examined. Hatchery-reared rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), were implanted with heart rate loggers and experimentally subjected to private or social experience of hooking. Private and social experience of angling induced an increased heart rate in fish compared with naive control fish. While private experience of hooking explained most of the reduced vulnerability to capture, no clear evidence was found that social experience of hooking affected angling vulnerability in fish that had never been hooked before. While both private and social experiences of angling constitute significant physiological stressors for rainbow trout, only the private experience reduces an individual's vulnerability to angling and in turn affecting population-level catchability.

Keywords

angling vulnerability; fish behaviour; heart rate; learning; Oncorhynchus mykiss; recreational fisheries

Published in

Fisheries Management and Ecology
2019, volume: 26, number: 6, pages: 611-620

SLU Authors

• Gräns, Albin

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Zoology

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/fme.12373

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/102879