Abstract

The practice within recreational fisheries to release captured fish back to the wild, known as catch-and-release (C&R), is an increasingly important strategy to protect fish stocks from overexploitation. However, C&R is a stressor and since animal reproduction is particularly sensitive to stress there is reason to suspect that such a practice induces sublethal fitness consequences. Here, we investigated whether and how C&R fishing influenced the reproductive potential in an anadromous population of Northern pike (Esox lucius). First, female pike were exposed to authentic C&R using rod-and-reel fishing in a coastal foraging habitat prior to the spawning period. Next, we observed the migration to the freshwater spawning habitat and compared both the timing of arrival and maturity stage between C&R-treated and control individuals. Finally, to evaluate effects on the quality and viability of eggs we stripped captured control and recaptured C&R-treated females, measured egg dry mass to assess nutrient content, conducted artificial fertilisations and incubated eggs in a controlled laboratory experiment. We found no evidence of C&R causing alterations in either arrival time, maturity stage, or the quality and viability of fertilised eggs. In combination, our results suggest that long-term effects of C&R-induced stress on key reproductive traits of pike, if any, are minor.

Keywords

Angling; Migration; Recreational fishing; Reproduction; Stress

Published in

Fisheries Research
2021, Volume: 243, article number: 106068
Publisher: ELSEVIER

SLU Authors

• Petersson, Erik

  • Department of Aquatic Resources (SLU Aqua), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

Lakes and watercourses


UKÄ Subject classification

Fish and Aquacultural Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2021.106068

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/113477