Catch-and-release fishing is widely promoted as a conservation measure, but fish welfare research raises important questions about injury, physiological stress, and post-release survival.
Catch-and-release fishing creates a welfare burden that varies enormously with technique and conditions. The fight to exhaustion that makes recreational fishing exciting imposes physiological stress — lactic acid accumulation, oxygen debt, cortisol spikes — that takes hours to days to fully resolve. Air exposure during handling prevents the gill function needed for that recovery; even brief air exposure measurably worsens post-release outcomes. Fish that do not die immediately after release may survive days before succumbing to delayed mortality or predation while physiologically compromised. Best practice guidelines significantly reduce welfare harm: keeping fish in the water, minimizing handling time, using wet hands or soft rubber nets, and avoiding warm-water fishing when post-release survival is poorest. These practices should be standard requirements in all catch-and-release regulations.