Why are there caps on species you cannot keep, like canary rockfish and yelloweye rockfish?
Canary rockfish and yelloweye rockfish cannot legally be retained by anglers but are sometimes caught incidentally while anglers fish for other species. Although canary rockfish and yelloweye rockfish are released, not all of them can be expected to survive because they acquire injury and stress when caught and released. The estimated mortality of released fish is counted toward the cap of species with a federal limit (such as canary rockfish, yelloweye rockfish and black rockfish). Different mortality rates are used for different species and different depths. For example, canary rockfish that are released closer to shore have a higher survival rate than those released in deeper water offshore.
