Initial Mortality of Black Bass in B.A.S.S. Fishing Tournaments

—We studied the initial mortality of black bass Micropterus spp. that were captured, weighed in, and released in fishing tournaments conducted by the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society between 1972 and 1998. Mean annual initial mortality (i.e., mortality before weigh-in and release) ranged from 1% to 30%. Initial mortality was greatest during the 1970s (15.2%) and decreased during the 1980s (5.7%) and 1990s (1.9%). Because initial mortality was uniformly low (#5%) after 1982, we used results for 1983–1998 to assess relationships involving initial mortality. Initial mortality was correlated with bag size, mean fish weight per angler, and number of fish per angler. Logistic regression showed that these three variables and their interactions explained significant portions of the variation in black bass initial mortality. Our results suggest that the initial survival of black bass caught in tournaments can be improved by reducing the number or total weight of fish that anglers can hold in their live wells during the day. This could be accomplished by decreasing tournament bag limits. Competitive fishing is a popular use of freshwater fishery resources, and the number and geographic distribution of these events have increased dramatically since the 1970s (Holbrook 1975; Shupp 1979; Duttweiler 1985; Schramm et al. 1991). Most events target black bass Micropterus spp.; however, other species increasingly are targeted (Schramm et al. 1991). Competitive fishing is at times contentious, with anglers and fishery managers expressing concerns about the potential biological and social impacts (Schramm et al. 1991). Among black bass anglers who do not participate in competitive fishing events there are continuing concerns that the mortality of fish captured and brought to weigh-in stations may affect fisheries (Wilde et al. 1998a), and mortality at some tournaments may exceed that viewed as acceptable by most participants (Wilde et al. 2002). The mortality of black bass captured in competitive fishing events has been recorded since the early 1970s (Holbrook 1975; Wilde 1998). These data show that initial mortality (i.e., mortality before weigh-in and release) of black bass was great* Corresponding author: [email protected] Received June 22, 2000; accepted December 13, 2001 est in the 1970s (19.5%), decreased in the 1980s (6.6%), and showed no further decrease during the 1990s (6.5%) (Wilde 1998). Much of the decrease in initial mortality between the 1970s and 1980s has been attributed to adoption of catch-andrelease fishing by tournament participants (Barnhart 1989) and refinement of fish handling techniques by tournament participants and organizers (Schramm et al. 1985). However, a more complete understanding of temporal variation in mortality and how it has been affected by changes in tournament practices and angler behavior is complicated by the diversity of procedures, regulations, and rules under which different tournaments are conducted. For example, mortality of tournamentcaught black bass is related to tournament size (Schramm et al. 1985; Hartley and Moring 1995; Ostrand et al. 1999) and the rules and procedures by which tournaments are conducted (Kwak and Henry 1995; Weathers and Newman 1997; Ostrand et al. 1999). The Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) has conducted fishing tournaments for black bass since the 1960s. Since 1972, B.A.S.S. has kept records of the number of fish captured and the number released alive at each of its tournaments, allowing calculation of initial mortality of black bass at these events. Because B.A.S.S. tournaments are conducted with standardized procedures and rules, they provide consistent data for the examination of temporal trends in initial mortality and the relationships between such mortality and potential explanatory variables. In this paper we describe temporal changes in the initial mortality of black bass captured in tournaments conducted by B.A.S.S during the 27 years from 1972 to 1998. Also, we use a subset of these data, collected from 1983 to 1998, to assess the relationships between initial mortality and (1) bag size, (2) mean weight of fish per angler, and (3) mean number of fish per angler.