question about releasing fish

[rodgerpidactor]

I see people saying not to ever release a fish after it has been in an aquarium but then i see other people who say never to do it EXCEPT when it was caught in a private lake/pond and you release it back into that exact same body of water. how does this change the circumstances?? cant ducks and other animals transfer fish eggs of "infected" fish from the private lake/pond to another body of water?? is it okay to release a fish after its been in an aquarium if it was caught in a small body of water as to a big reservoir ??? forgive me if this was covered in the sticky i tried to find it in there.....

 

[amesbien]

I think it is just best to say that it is NEVER OK to release a fish back into the wild, under any circumstances.

 

[crazyman229]

if u dont want the fish just eat the fish

 

[Mystix212]

If your returning the fish back to its natural habitat, I dont see any harm. Its because foriegn fish compete for food and kill the native fish which is why you shouldnt release aquarium fish. Like for example, a noob releasing a 12" oscar in a flourishing habitat full of tetras and discus.

 

[ercnan]

Here, DNR regs. state that no fish can be released into any public body of water. Private property obviously is different if you own it or have written permission from the owner.
This from the DNR website.http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/fish/fishng/2007RFG/large/Fishing%20Regulations%20pgs%2042-55.pdf

Illegal Fish Stockings and Aquarium Releases
No individual may take any live fish (native or nonnative) and
release it into any other public waters without a stocking permit.
Fisheries biologists in the DNR approve stocking of fish only
after careful consideration of the potential impacts of the new
fish on existing habitat and fish population.

Sale of Aquatic Life
No fish, frogs, turtles or other reptile or amphibian taken under
a fishing or hunting license may be bought, sold or bartered. You
may keep fish that you catch for an aquarium if that fish meets
legal size and bag limit requirements. If you give your catch
away, it’s a good idea to provide that person a note identifying
the fish you gave them. This avoids confusion with exceeding
the daily bag limit or possessing fish without a fishing license.

 

[Onion01]

If your returning the fish back to its natural habitat, I dont see any harm. Its because foriegn fish compete for food and kill the native fish which is why you shouldnt release aquarium fish. Like for example, a noob releasing a 12" oscar in a flourishing habitat full of tetras and discus.

Or even worse, a breeding pair of 12' oscars

 

[sandtiger]

Birds cannot move fish eggs by them sticking to them. Fish eggs are sensitive and die quickly when removed from water. The reason why most say that private ponds are alright is because private ponds are typically not connected to larger bodies of water.

 

[rjmtx]

There's the parasite issue, too. People never think of the invasive parasites and diseases, which can have effects similar to when Europeans first made contact with Native Americans.

I don't see a moral problem with releasing a fish exactly where you caught it if it was kept in a sterile tank quarantined from all other fish, but this is rarely the case. When I'm sampling fish, we don't even use a net we were using in another body of water if it is still wet. It's so we don't transfer any nasties to creatures that may have never had any contact with them.

 

[davo]

You don't release them back, I think its an offence in most places. You could be introducing nasties back into the body of water. You do not do it, period. This is a topic covered many, many times.

 

[cenecker]

Yep its against the law and the concern is that you might release an infected fish.

Ex: you catch a green sunfish from a lake and put it in your tank with your wild-caught african cichlids (not that like ANY africans are wild-caught but bear with me ). What you don't know is that one of your africans caught evil malawi fish malaria (no not a real disease) and it's in remission right now. Now your green sunfish has evil malawi fish malaria and you release it back to the lake you got it from...every fish in the lake gets evil malawi fish malaria and given that its an exotic disease that NOTHING in the lake has any chance of immunity to...the whole freaking lake dies...

That is if no one say...caught another infected green sunfish and then released it in another lake or river...

Obviously this case is the exception not the norm...you could probably catch and release a hundred green sunfish and never actually wipe out the whole state with an exotic disease but the law is there because if it DID happen it could be disasterous.

Dont release fish!