How to best release a caught fish is an enduring question in fisheries science. The "conventional wisdom" has always been to cut the line, thereby leaving the hook in the animal whereby the animal benefits from reduced handling allowing it to fully recover and survive until the hook degrades to a point at which it can be shed. Baseline data was determined on the degradability of commonly used hooks in both recreational and commercial fisheries in waters of the Florida Straits and the Gulf of Mexico, which may be of critical importance if high mortality rates associated with retained hooks are not adequately described within stock assessments. Seawater and various pH values (1.5 pH, representative of the conditions for elasmobranch and marine mammal gastric digestion; 2.5 pH, corresponding to pH for teleost gastric digestion; 7.8 pH, corresponding to the pH of teleost blood plasma) were selected from the literature as representative of varying taxa and conditions as treatments for ten separate hook types, four generally intended for commercial fisheries and six for recreational fisheries. Degradation of the hooks was quantified both weight (to the nearest mg) and tensile strength loss (to the nearest kg) and analyzed quantitatively by regression analyses and a Tukey-Kramer HSD. Statistical significance supporting modeled degradation was assessed at the =0.05 level by R2 adjusted (Denoted “Adj. R2”) values (>0.70) and p values (ANOVA
| Date of Award | Jul 27 2016 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | David Kerstetter (Supervisor) & Robin Sherman (Advisor) |
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