Barotrauma treatment performance of fish release devices and its effects on fishing operations

The aim of this study is to analyze the barotrauma treatment performance of different fish release devices and its effects on different fishing operations. Experiments were carried out between September 2017 and April 2018 in the Iskenderun Bay, located in the Eastern Mediterranean. Fishing Release Hook (FRH), Fish Release Clamp (FRC) and Fish Release Basket (FRB) were tested in three different fishing activities, which are longline, hand line and bottom trawl fishery, respectively for Epinephelus aeneus, Epinephelus costae and Nemipterus randalli. They were released into the sea after fishing operations. Study results showed that fish release devices were very effective for barotrauma treatment. The use of FRB is suitable for bottom trawl fishing, while the use of FRH and FRC is more ergonomic in longline and hand line fishery