Obtaining reliable estimates of post- release mortality in billfishes has only become possible in the last 25 years or so, largely due to the development of electronic tagging equipment (acoustic and satellite tags) that allows more effective tracking of tagged fish. In addition, while there have been several well-conducted studies that have investigated billfish post-release survival using this technology, the high cost of electronic tags has precluded large numbers of billfish from being tagged in any single study, which subsequently limits the amount of statistical inference that can be derived from each study.
However, a study by Dr. Michael Musyl and colleagues published in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences compiled the results of 49 independent studies into a single meta-analysis to estimate post-release survival in six species of billfish. This study included billfish caught on recreational and commercial fishing gear.
LINK (via Lahaina News)
