Thanks for bringing this to the forefront, Soft bite. I'm curious... if release mortality doesn't factor into dropout, where on Earth are they coming up with sport dropout being higher than either commercial fishery's dropout? What constitutes dropout in a sport fishing context?
You know someone's cooking the books when sport angling accounts for a higher percentage of dropout than gillnets; I'm just wondering what's in the recipe.
Drop-off on rec gear represents all the fish encountered by the gear that did NOT come to hand. There is associated mortality that is not directly appreciated by the angler. Some fish are mortally wounded by the hooking site but subsequently come unbuttoned out of sight. Some are visibly pumping clouds of blood, but throw the hook or break the line. Some may not be mortally wounded by the hook, but are nonetheless mortally stressed out by the fight (think coho that does that signature death roll just before the netshot.... FISH OFF!). These dead fish are accounted for.
Release mortalities are the fish that die post-release as a result of the stress/injury inflicted by the encounter plus the handling after being landed. These dead fish are accounted for.
Pinniped mortality is fish ripped from your hooks during the fight, while netting the fish, or immediately after releasing a fish that now lacks the vigor to swiftly evade a predator. These dead fish are NEVER accounted for.
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