Catch-and-release fishing is widely practiced but its welfare implications depend critically on handling practices. Evidence-based approaches significantly reduce harm to released fish.
Catch-and-release angling presents welfare researchers with a genuine challenge: the practice is promoted as conservation-positive, yet the evidence on fish pain and injury means it involves measurable harm. The welfare outcome depends enormously on handling practices: prolonged fights, air exposure, dry-hand handling, and inadequate recovery time before release all significantly reduce survival and welfare. Best-practice catch-and-release — using barbless hooks, minimizing fight time, keeping fish in water, using rubber nets, and ensuring full recovery before release — substantially reduces the welfare cost. The anglers most committed to the conservation ethos of catch-and-release are often also most receptive to welfare-positive handling information, making this community an important audience for evidence-based welfare messaging.