Ten practical realities for institutional animal care and use committees when evaluating protocols dealing with fish in the field

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee’s (IACUCs) serve an important role in ensuring that ethical practices are used by researchers working with vertebrate taxa including fish. With a growing number of researchers working on fish in the field and expanding mandates of IACUCs to regulate field work, there is potential for interactions between aquatic biologists and IACUCs to result in unexpected challenges and misunderstandings. Here we raise a number of issues often encountered by researchers and suggest that they should be taken into consideration by IACUCs when dealing with projects that entail the examination of fish in their natural environment or other field settings. We present these perspectives as ten practical realities along with their implications for establishing IACUC protocols. The ten realities are: (1) fish are diverse; (2) scientific collection permit regulations may conflict with IACUC policies; (3) stakeholder credibility and engagement may constrain what is possible; (4) more (sample size) is sometimes better; (5) anesthesia is not always needed or possible; (6) drugs such as analgesics and antibiotics should be prescribed with care; (7) field work is inherently dynamic; (8) wild fish are wild; (9) individuals are different, and (10) fish capture, handling, and retention are often constrained by logistics. These realities do not imply ignorance on the part of IACUCs, but simply different training and experiences that make it difficult for one to understand what happens outside of the lab where fish are captured and not ordered/purchased/reared, where there are engaged stakeholders, and where there is immense diversity (in size, morphology, behaviour, life-history, physiological tolerances) such that development of rigid protocols or extrapolation from one species (or life-stage, sex, size class, etc.) to another is difficult. We recognize that underlying these issues is a need for greater collaboration between IACUC members (including veterinary professionals) and field researchers which would provide more reasoned, rational and useful guidance to improve or maintain the welfare status of fishes used in field research while enabling researchers to pursue fundamental and applied questions related to the biology of fish in the field. As such, we hope that these considerations will be widely shared with the IACUCs of concerned researchers

ARTICLE Evaluation of a simple technique for recovering fish from capture stress: integrating physiology, biotelemetry, and social science to solve a conservation problem

Abstract: We evaluate the utility of an inexpensive, portable recovery bag designed to facilitate recovery of fish from capture stress by combining physiological assays, biotelemetry, and social science surveys. Adult migrating Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) were used as a model, since some of their populations are threatened. While catch-and-release is common, there is a need to ensure that it is sustainable. A social science survey revealed that anglers generally have positive attitudes towards recovery bag use, particularly if research identifies that such techniques could be effective. Physiological assays on pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) revealed benefits of both high-and low-velocity recovery, but high velocity was most effective with reduced plasma cortisol concentrations and similar plasma sodium and chloride concentrations as those found in controls at all recovery durations. A biotelemetry study on sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) captured by anglers and stressed by air exposure then placed in recovery bags had 20% higher, but not significantly different, survival than no-recovery salmon. The integration of natural science and social science provides an important step forward in developing methods for promoting recovery of fish from capture. Résumé : Nous évaluons l'utilité d'un sac de récupération portable et peu dispendieux pour ce qui est de favoriser la récupération de poissons après un stress de capture, en combinant des essais physiologiques, des données de biotélémétrie et des études sociologiques. Des saumons du Pacifique (Oncorhynchus spp.) adultes en migration ont été utilisés comme modèle étant donné que certaines de leurs populations sont menacées et que, bien que la pêche avec remise à l'eau soit répandue, il importe de vérifier qu'il s'agit d'une pratique durable. Une étude sociologique a révélé que les pêcheurs à la ligne voient généralement d'un bon oeil l'utilisation d'un sac de récupération, en particulier si la recherche établit l'efficacité de telles méthodes. Des essais physiologiques sur des saumons roses (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) ont révélé que la récupération tant à haute vitesse qu'à basse vitesse présentait des avantages, mais que la récupération à haute vitesse était plus efficace, se traduisant par une réduction des concentrations de cortisol plasmatique et des concentrations semblables de sodium et de chlorure, utilisées comme témoins, pour toutes les durées de récupération. Dans une étude biotélémétrique, des saumons sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka) capturés par des pêcheurs à la ligne et soumis au stress de l'exposition à l'air, puis placés dans des sacs de récupération présentaient un taux de survie de 20 % supérieur à celui des saumons n'ayant pas récupéré, bien que cette différence ne soit pas significative. L'intégration des sciences naturelles et de la sociologie a donc permis une importante avancée dans la mise au point de méthodes favorisant la récupération de poissons suite à leur capture. [Traduit par la Rédaction