Gill Net Surveys

[fish4fish]

All of the recent "discussions" on fish at different waters the gill netting practices of the dwr were often brought up, this lead my to ponder a question, does the gill netting kill all of the caught fish? or just some of them? i understand that the dwr does take some of each species of fish to disect to see what the fishes diet is, are these fish that are going to die anyways?

Also i remember seeing a bit about the dwr electro shocking the fishes water to bring the fish to the surface, then they would flush the fishes stomach and analize it, does the shocking affect the fish? does it kill the fish?

Thanks for any info that you may provide
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[Kayote]

Gill netting is usually lethal and electrofishing usually is not.

Good Fishing, Kayote
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[hlfmoon]

I have taken part in the gill net surveys at strawberry. All the fish are killed. All the hatchery fish that go into strawberry are spray painted with a paint that stays with them through out there life. This color is picked up under black light, and each year has a different color so they know the age of the fish. All the fish stomachs are checked and they are all fillet, with the fillet going to charities The day I was there even the heads were saved for some kind of test. Of course this only applies to game fish.

When we were through the biologist cooked all the craydad tails and we had a feast
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[PBH]

Much of gillnetting depends on the size of the net, and the amount of time the net is set for. If the net is set for over night, many fish (but not all) will die. From the times I have helped do gillnetting (which have been many) we have been able to return many fish back to the water. Then again, many are sacrificed. But, gillnets can be targeted at certain species, and sizes. A smaller mesh will result in more fish caught, many large fish will only be caught by their teeth, and then get wrapped up in the net, but they can many times be set back free. If larger fish are the target, then a larger mesh is used, which will allow for the smaller fish to pass through the net. Also, location of the nets can help in targeting fish.

Electroshocking is somewhat the same. Some fish will die, but for the most part they do not. Much of this depends on the voltage. Another factor is size of fish. A larger fish will get hit harder than a small fish. One thing to remeber with electroshocking is that the only area that is affected is the area between the two electrodes, which are usually two metal dipnets. The nets are place in the stream, which creates an electric field in between. Anyything in the middle will get a little shock, which usually results in the fish being stunned long enought to net them. If they are not netted, they float out of the area, and swim off. As for your question about stomach pumping, that just depends on why they are electroshocking. I have never been on an electroshock trip where stomach pumping took place. Usually, measurements are taken, and that's it.
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[ocean]

I have used nets in the ocean and most of the fish have lived .It depends on how tangled they get and what part of their body is tangled.But it seems to me that fresh water fish are a lot more fragile than the ocean fish.
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