Posted on 04/05/2002 7:01:02 AM PST by Grampa Dave
Requirement mandates CPR for fish
Thursday, April 4, 2002, By ANDREW KRAMER, Associated Press Writer
ASTORIA, Ore. -- Ab Ihander isn't thrilled about throwing back the 20-pound spring chinook salmon he's just pulled into his boat with his tangle net. But the law says he must; it's a wild salmon, not hatchery-bred.
Before he can return the salmon to the Columbia River, however, he revives it with a sort of CPR for fish.
He lowers the salmon into a tank with pipes inside.
A small Honda pump starts up, and oxygen-rich river water is circulated over the salmon's gills and mouth.
The idea is to make sure that when the salmon is returned to the river, it will be strong enough to survive.
"It rubs me the wrong way to throw back salmon. But it's that or nothing. And these are valuable fish," said the 73-year-old Ihander, who has fished in the river since the 1940s and seen the gradual decline of fish stocks as dams, riverside development and overfishing whittled away at populations.
Resuscitation is a new federal and state requirement of fishermen who cast tangle nets in the lower part of the river in March and April, when they inevitably snare spring chinook salmon, some of which are on the endangered species list.
Ihander and other fishermen are allowed to keep only hatchery-raised salmon, which can be distinguished from wild fish by a snipped rear adipose fin only after they are caught.
Salmon can fatally exhaust themselves struggling against the net. Its thin, green lines also can bind shut the gills, preventing the fish from breathing.
Merely tossed back, many wild fish would not survive.
A study of the resuscitation device, also called a revival box, using coho salmon showed that 94 percent of fish that appeared dead when freed from the net could be released after treatment, said Jeff Whisler, assistant project leader for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's live capture program.
None of those fish would have survived without the revival box, he said. Fish still moving but weak when pulled from the net also benefit, he said, but the effect is more difficult to quantify.
"Our intent is to allow them (tangle net fishermen) to catch the hatchery fish, which we raised to be caught, but minimize the impact on the wild fish," said Pat Frazier, a biologist with the state department.
Without resuscitation, "those fish would go to the bottom of the river," Frazier said.
The Columbia River Basin provides habitat for five species of anadromous salmon -- chinook, coho, chum, sockeye and pink.
Anadromous salmon hatch in rivers and tributaries, migrate to the ocean after a year or two, and after another two to five years return to their birthplace to spawn.
The fish pick up the distinct smell of the rivers they travel down, and eventually follow those scents home.
The resuscitation rule for the Columbia River's spring chinook run is unique in the United States, Frazier said.
The reason is partly biology -- the fish are particularly strong after feeding in the ocean, and thus good candidates for the experiment -- and partly economic.
Because of their rich flavor and high fat content, Columbia spring chinook, or "springers," are considered a delicacy. They fetch $5 a pound at the dock, so a good fish brings $100.
That makes it worthwhile for fishermen to provide medical care for wild salmon in order to harvest the hatchery variety.
Fishery officials held a six-hour seminar for tangle netters on fish revival techniques before the season opened. Some objected, saying the revival box was a hardship.
"What we found is that for the most part, people are skeptical the changes will work," Frazier said. But once they try the device, most are converts, he said.
Ihander appears to be among them.
he wild salmon he pulled out of the river looked lifeless. After placing his 20-pound catch into the resuscitation tank, he watched to see whether it would revive the fish.
The gills opened and closed. The salmon began to wobble.
"We've actually seen fish jump out of the box" after a few minutes of treatment, said Ihander.
He picked up the salmon, heaved it overboard and watched as it slithered beneath the surface and disappeared.
"We haven't lost one yet," he said.
So any attempt by these Statist Fish and Game people to keep these fish from commiting suicide by swimming into a net is a violation of the inane rights of these Fish!
Maybe they could just install EFS (Emergency Fish Services) at all of the fish "ladders" they've built...
Coming soon to a river stream near you, thanks to Ward, Maybe they could just install EFS (Emergency Fish Services) at all of the fish "ladders" they've built...
Thank goodness it isn't widespread. Does this "resuscitation" rule apply to the Indians, as well?
Sheesh...
this is nuts!
If a company makes this CPR tank, that might be a good investment.
This makes you want to run out and buy a Peta Peat Moss non burger at BK. (NOT!)
When I read this, I visualized you in a Coast Guard high speed chase boat going out to board fishing boats in and around Bandon.
Then, after you boarded the fishing boat, you would check out the CPR equipment and certificate of the fishers on board.
Then with suspected violators, you would follow them at a distance to see if any dead improperly CPRed fishies were floating behind the vessel.
This would part of your personal war on terrorism, saving the native fishies.
Have a great weekend!
YES YES YES YES!! BUMPARAMA!!!!! (Although I would have said "inate" rights of the fish. Nonetheless, the eco-facists have got to get their friggin' pro-death act up to speed or even Paula Zahn will not take them seriously.)
They could do this for the sucker fish in Klamath Falls.
Time to break out the pictures of the F&G killing salmon with baseball bats due to too many of them!
Most fly fishers use catch and release methods on most fish and all native fish. There is a new hand net with the catch and release netting that doesn't hurt the slime and scales necessary for fish survival.
I have had guys down stream of me monitoring my releases to see if a dead or injured fish was not released correctly. I did not kill one last year or this season with this new hand net and using quick techniques to get the fish in to release it.
For big fish, there is a device called Boca Fish Grip/Grabber and Releaser. You use it to grasp the fish by the lips and never touch it. Then, you hold it by the side of your boat in the water until the fish recovers. Then you push the release button. My son uses this to catch and release stripers in the Delta. He catches and releases several hundred each year, and he has never killed a striper using the Boca Grip. He uses it to handle fish in the waters off of Mexico with the same results. The Boca Grip works well to release native salmoniods off the coast here in Kali land.
Funny if you aren't a professional fisher in that area, dependent on catching fish to feed your family!
You know Dave, consider the HARM that might be done by handling fish this way. They could get hooked on hypoxia and the rush of revival (a variant on the bends). It might cause them to seek capture just for the rush. Then there is the CONSIDERABLE likelihood that their behavior will be forever altered subsequent to human contact. I mean, you know how much some humans like hypoxia during an orgasm (they calls em gaspers). Why, think of what it would do to a breeding hen after the wild abandon of Bubba caressing her dorsals as she passes out!
Sorry about the keyboard, Dave, but I was gettin all steemy jest thinking about it.
Here is a link to where there should be some pictures of the slaughter.
I keep getting a message that I don't have enough memory to load the
images so I am not able to see them.
Let me know if you do.
I could see they had bats though! -- Thanks for posting the pics!
CPR for fish was a great title GD, I had an image of a lip to lip technique but then Salmon might have big lips and teeth and I just came by to see how a technique would work on fish lips!!
LOL!
Actually you are not all that far off re the possible repetitive behavior.
In many of the catch and release streams, the trout learn after fighting to swim up to the fly fisher to be netted and then released.
A fellow who guides on Putah Creek and I were fishing a couple of years ago towards the end of the catch and release season.
He hooked a really big trout, and I put my pole up against a tree and got my net to net the fish for him. I was being really careful not to get ahead of him and keeping the net from the fish's vision. The sight of a net will often panic a fish and result in more fighting and tiring the fish.
The guide said, "Just wade out in front of me and put your damn net in the water!"
So I did and the fish swam right into the net, relaxed until I removed the hook from its lips. Then, the guide said, "Just lower your net holding it parallel until it goes under the water."
I did that. When my net got about 3-4 inches under the water, the fish just swam over the edge of the net into the water.
Trout in the San Juan River and other highly fished catch and release streams do this all the time.
This past tuesday, I was fishing at Putah Creek with another guide. He was across the stream and hooked a big brown. He couldn't get the fish to come close to him. I had him throw his net over to my side of the stream. I put the net in the water, and in about 30 seconds, the Brown swam over to and into the net.
This guide couldn't believe it. The hook was in the fish's jaw. So I used my Leather Man tool to cut off the top part of the hook leaving the barb in to rust out, and then I lowered the net and the big 6-8 pound Brown swam out when the net was low enough.
The guide couldn't figure out what happened. I told him that fish was Charlie, and we took good care of Charlie and never hurt him. Charlie knew the routine. We hooked Charlie. Then, Charlie would fight the good battle and when he was ready would swim into the net to be released.
So you may not be off the remark with your reply of the fish liking the tank and getting addicted to it!
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