The impact of catch-and-release on feeding responses and aggressive behavior in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

ABSTRACT

Catch-and-Release (C&R) practice may result in post-release mortality in fish. Therefore, most C&R studies have focused on endangered or highly valued target species, and less attention has been given to introduced/abundant species, which indeed are important from an ecological point of view. Nile tilapia is considered an introduced species in many areas and is a commonly caught species in recreational fisheries; therefore, understanding the impacts of C&R on tilapia is also important from an animal welfare perspective. We investigated whether C&R impacts the aggressive behavior and feeding responses of Nile tilapia, characteristics that impair the welfare and the ability of an individual to have success in its ecosystem. Surprisingly, C&R did not affect these responses, and our results suggest that Nile tilapia may be relatively more resilient to C&R, and that C&R practices may act as an additional selective force towards the ecological success of Nile tilapia as introduced species.

KEYWORDS:

• Catch-and-release
• recreational fishing
• sub-lethal effects
• aggressivity
• fish behavior
• oreochromis niloticus

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Physiology Department of the Institute of Biosciences of UNESP – Botucatu for the support and assistance provided in this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Harvard Dataverse at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/NUXM3L