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General Category > Hints and Tips

How not to handle fish

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Editor:
How not to handle fish

See attached picture of an article from a Gold Coast rag; without doubt a fantastic fish.

Firstly the claim that this was a "Murray Cod" from the Nerang River is highly doubtful, Murray cod are not native to this river system and have not been stocked into the Nerang River. The fish is almost certainly a Mary River Cod which is endemic to the Nerang River and has been restocked there as well. The Mary River Cod in the Nerang River are totally protected species.
This is clearly poor research & reporting, sadly a common trait in modern media.

However the main reason for highlighting this article & the picture of the fish, it that even though the fish was released, hanging a 95cm fish from it's bottom jaw has most probably doomed it to die anyway due to the injuries it causes to the fish.

TIP
If you care about any fish and want it to swim away & actually survive;
- support its body when lifting the fish,
- don't handle the fish with dry hands or lay it on dry carpet in your boat / dry dirt, &
 - keep the time the fish is out of the water to a minimum, a good guide is to hold your breathe when you lift the fish from the water, when you run out of air, the fish needs to be back in the water.  :tick
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rayke1938:
Poor handling no doubt to the practice of fishing mags and people running comps all showing photos of fish being suspended by the jaws.
 How about starting a policy of not publishing any photos showing fish dead or alive not supported correctly ?
Replace photo with caption photo deleted fish not supported.
 Cheers
Ray

aussiebasser:
Most dead fish are not illegal, that one, unfortunately was illegally caught.  That angler admits to targeting it when they are a no take species.  Hopefully, with his name and address published in the paper, and the admission of guilt, an easy prosecution should result.

bushwacker:
You are kidding........

Miocevich:
 :GoodPost)

Great tips, some people forgot to treat the fish properly.

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