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Sport fishers can voluntarily release the salmon that they have caught and which they are entitled to keep. From a conservation perspective and in a sporting spirit, the Ministry as well as the Fédération québécoise pour le Saumon atlantique and the Fédération des gestionnaires de rivières à Saumon du Québec invite fishers to limit themselves to three releases per day. Depending on the availability of the resource, a management organization can suggest a smaller number of releases. To give the salmon the best possible chances of surviving, the following method should be employed.
How to release fish?
- If you regularly return salmon to the water, use a barbless hook (barb broken, filed down or bent); this makes it easier to remove the hook without injuring the salmon.
- Gently remove the hook with hands or pliers. If the hook is deeply imbedded, cut the fishing line; the hook will eventually disintegrate and thus do less harm to the fish.
- Do not tire the salmon. A prolonged struggle will decrease its chances of survival.
- Handle the salmon under water and avoid touching its eyes or gills. A fish out of water quickly begins to lack oxygen.
- Keep your hands moistened.
- Do not use a tailer.
- Use a small cotton mesh net
- Revive the salmon by holding it underwater horizontally with its head facing the current.
- Only if it is floating on its side, revive it gently move it slightly back and forth underwater so that water passes through its gills.
- Release it as soon as it begins to struggle.
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