Barotrauma is physical damage to body tissues caused by a difference in pressure between an air space inside or beside the body and the surrounding gas or liquid.

Barotrauma typically occurs to air spaces within a body when that body moves to or from a higher pressure environment, such as when a SCUBA diver, a free diving diver, an airplane passenger ascends or descends or you bring certain species of fish up from deep water. Boyles Law defines the relationship between the volume of the air space and the ambient pressure.  Fish brought to the surface from depths of 20 meters or more are likely to suffer from barotrauma. The susceptibility to this condition and response to treatment varies between species. Jewfish and most species of Rock fish in particular in salt water, suffer badly from barotrauma as do Walleye and all members of the Bass family in fresh water.

With humans that suffer from this you can simply put them into a pressure chamber, return them to the pressure they were at and then adjust the pressure slowly to normal ambient pressure. With fish, they must only be returned to the depths they came from and released as they were at that pressure to begin with and that is where they belong.

Damage occurs in the tissues around the body's air spaces because gases are compressible and the tissues are not. During increases in ambient pressure when at deep water depths, the internal air space provides the surrounding tissues with little support to resist the higher external pressure. During decreases in ambient pressure when the fish is reeled in from deep water, the higher pressure of the gas inside the air spaces causes damage to the surrounding tissues, organs and muscle structure when that gas becomes trapped.

This will cause the “puffed” or “popped” eyes and the expelled stomachs we see from the fish that suffer from this. Remember though, not all symptoms are visible and just because his eyes and stomach may not appear to be “popped” or visible doesn’t mean the fish is OK. There are air bubbles in his muscle system as well as the other organs that can cause him to expire if he is not returned to a proper depth for the pressure to equalized and the effects to be reversed.

Until now there has been two methods promoted for dealing with fish that are suffering from barotrauma (although opinions among researchers and experienced fishers differ as to the best method for dealing with this condition).

Venting

Venting, or puncturing the swim bladder with a fine hollow needle has been used to allow the expanded air in the swim bladder to escape. Venting methods can vary with species however in most cases the needle is inserted in line with the top of the pectoral fin and below the 4th dorsal spine. Unfortunately, research has shown this method to cause a very high mortality rate in most cases since any intrusion into the body can cause infection.

Weighted line

An alternative, less intrusive method, has been to use a weighted line to return the fish to the bottom. The fish is hooked in the jaw with a barbless hook or bent wire design, attached to a weight and lowered to the bottom on a cord. When the cord is "jerked" the hook comes out of the fish. Further research has shown that there are problems with this method as well since the point of a hook or wire occasionally would puncture the fishes extended stomach while trying to get the fish back down. The other problem was when a fish gets a short burst of energy and attempts to submerge on his own (which they will all try to do) they come off of the hook or wire at a depth that is insufficient for him to recover fully. All fish try to get back to where they were.  That is why we like the "fight" on the rod.  Bottom related type fish will always try to go DOWN. 

 Unfortunately research shows that these fish that come off of these devices early usually swim off to die later out of the site of the fishermen so it also an ineffective method for proper release in most cases.

Now a new and improved method

With the Git-R-Down release the fish is held firmly by the jaw with a scissor type grip that is coated and does not need to puncture the fish in any way to hold it.  This insures no infection.

Secondly; the design of the device makes it hold even firmer when pulled in a downward direction like all fish will do.

And finally, the fish will be held until the device contacts the bottom where the fish is released automatically and is in sufficient depth to survive.

We think the choice is clear on which method will save more fish safely and easily.

Git-R-Down