This entertaining video shows how you can release bloated rockfish to give them a chance at survival. Rockfish are long-lived fish (many live to 100 years or more!) found in the Northeast Pacific ocean and populations have been in decline since the mid-1980s. Seven species are considered overfished and several states require these species to be discarded if captured. However throwing these fish overboard often leads to their demise because of pressure-related injuries called barotrauma. Find out why a rockfish gets barotrauma and how to use a variety of recompression devices to help rockfish return to their depth of capture. Have a heart, do your part, and send them back down where you caught ’em!
For more information and recompression videos see the following websites:
http://swfsc.noaa.gov/barotrauma/
http://www.dfw.state.or.us/images
http://www.fishsmart.org
Filmed/directed/edited by John Dutton; written by Alena Pribyl, Milton Love, Merit McCrea and John Hyde; Rap written and performed by Ray Troll and Russell Wodehouse; Computer animation by Amadeo Bachar and Cat Wilson.