KINGSTON, Ontario, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Some Ontario researchers say they have found sport fishing tournaments could be easier on live fish if they were not weighed in the open air.
Research findings from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, in Canada, found that the weigh-in process at the end of the contest is one of the most critical times for fish because they are kept in plastic bags, exposed to the air.
The study, published in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management, suggests fish transferred immediately from containment bags to a weigh-in basket, submersed in well-aerated water during weighing, maintain up to 150 percent higher energy stores than fish weighed in open air.
"These results indicate that fish kept in water during the weigh-in process are in much better physiological condition and should be able to resume their normal physical activities much more quickly after they have been released," fish physiologist Bruce Tufts.
