Sources

Every source FishingHQ relies on, what kind of authority it is, whether it is an original or restates another, and whether anybody has actually read it.

• A review of catch-and-release angling mortality with implications for no-take reserves

  Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 15:129–154, 2005 · Scientific literature

  The quantitative counterpart to the Arlinghaus review: where that one explains why release outcomes are complex, this one aggregates the numbers. Cited for hook-type and hooking-location evidence.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The synthesis of mortality by hook type and hooking location, and the summary tables comparing barbed and barbless treatments

  Must confirm:

  That hooking location is a stronger predictor of post-release mortality than barb presence across the reviewed studies, and the direction and approximate size of any barbless effect where one was detected.

  If it supports something narrower:

  State the barbless finding only for the species groups the review actually covers, and drop any general claim that barbless hooks reduce mortality.

• A short review of pike ecology

  Hydrobiologia 601:5–16, Springer, 2008 · Scientific literature

  ADDED IN SPRINT 2. A readable peer-reviewed review of pike ecology, obtained because Craig's 1996 monograph could not be. It is the single most useful scientific source in the catalogue for the pike cluster.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• AIDA International freediving education and safety standards

  AIDA International · Water-safety or diver-training authority

  The international freediving federation. Cited for the existence of recognised breath-hold training, which the safety block tells readers to obtain.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The education standards and safety rules

  Must confirm:

  That recognised freediving training exists as a structured, assessed qualification and that direct in-water supervision is required during breath-hold training.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Refer to the existence of training standards without characterising their content.

• Angling Times

  Bauer Media · Specialist angling publication

  A long-running British weekly. Included because the book literature predates modern lure technique entirely.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  Technique features and species coverage for the methods FishingHQ describes

  Must confirm:

  That the modern coarse and predator practice FishingHQ describes as conventional is presented as such by multiple independent contributors, with dates and authors recorded.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Downgrade the affected claim from practitioner consensus to anecdotal and say so on the page.

• Angling Trust guidance for anglers

  Angling Trust · Angling or fisheries organisation

  The representative body for angling in England. Used for what the sport's own institutions promote, which is a claim about practice rather than about biology.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The fish care, biosecurity and invasive species guidance pages

  Must confirm:

  Fish-handling and biosecurity practice as the Trust states it.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Attribute the practice to the Trust's own wording rather than to anglers generally.

• Biotoxin and phytoplankton monitoring

  Food Standards Agency, 2026 · Government fisheries body

  Cited on the existence and volatility of the official shellfish closure system, not on toxin levels. The update history is the evidence.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• BlueWater Hunting and Freediving

  BlueWater Freedivers, Ventura, California, 1995 · Practitioner report

  The single practitioner original in the spearfishing register. Never sufficient for practitioner consensus on its own, and the records that lean on it say so.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The chapters on approaching fish, on blue-water technique, and on the author's account of blackout and buddy procedure

  Must confirm:

  What the author actually reports about how fish respond to a diver's approach, and whether any of it is presented as observation rather than as established biology.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Attribute each statement to this author by name and reduce it further, rather than generalising it to divers as a group.

• BSAC diving safety guidance and annual incident report

  British Sub-Aqua Club · Water-safety or diver-training authority

  The UK national governing body for diving. One of two authorities behind the mandatory spearfishing safety block.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The freediving safety guidance and the annual incident report

  Must confirm:

  The one-up-one-down buddy protocol as BSAC states it, and the proportion of freediving incidents involving blackout on ascent.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Keep the buddy protocol and drop any FishingHQ statement about relative frequency.

• Carp Fever

  Beekay Publishers, 1981 · Specialist angling publication

  The book that took the hair rig and the boilie into general practice. An independent original for the carp cluster.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The sections on hookbait presentation and on boilies

  Must confirm:

  The origin and rationale of separating the bait from the hook on a short link, and the early development of boiled paste baits.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Record the attribution as contested if the text does not clearly assign the innovation.

• Cefas science, advice and data on marine and freshwater environments

  Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science · Government fisheries body

  The UK government's marine and freshwater science agency. Used for fishery science and stock context.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The bass and cod life-history and stock advice pages

  Must confirm:

  The late maturity and slow growth of European sea bass, and the importance of estuarine nursery areas.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Downgrade the affected claim to `unresolved` and record what Cefas actually says.

• Check Clean Dry — biosecurity guidance for water users

  GB Non-native Species Secretariat · Conservation authority

  The official GB biosecurity guidance for water users. The source behind every biosecurity precaution in this catalogue.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• CMAS technical and sporting standards for underwater activities

  Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques · Standards body

  The international federation. Cited for the existence of internationally maintained standards, never for the content of any national rule.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The spearfishing commission rules and the freediving technical standards

  Must confirm:

  That CMAS maintains international rules for competitive spearfishing and technical standards for breath-hold diving, and that those rules exclude the use of compressed air or other breathing apparatus in spearfishing events.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Refer only to the existence of an international federation maintaining rules, and drop any characterisation of what those rules contain.

• Coarse Fishing

  A. & C. Black, 1912 · Specialist angling publication

  An independent original from before the modern tackle era, useful precisely because it predates the Walker lineage.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The chapters on float fishing and on individual species

  Must confirm:

  Early twentieth-century float and bait practice for the species FishingHQ covers.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Treat as historical evidence of practice at the time of writing.

• Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries

  Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 1995 · Standards body

  The neutrality anchor for the catch and conservation family. Cited where FishingHQ describes what management is trying to control rather than what anybody ought to do.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The articles on fishing operations and on the responsibilities of fishers, particularly the provisions concerning selective gear, minimising waste and discards, and lost gear

  Must confirm:

  That the Code sets out expectations for gear selectivity, for minimising waste and catch of non-target organisms, and for reducing lost and abandoned gear, and that it applies these as general principles across fisheries rather than to industrial fishing alone.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Attribute the principles only to the fishery types the Code names, and present FishingHQ's application of them to recreational spearfishing as interpretation.

• DAN guidance on freediving safety, hypoxia and shallow-water blackout

  Divers Alert Network · Water-safety or diver-training authority

  The principal diving-medicine safety organisation. Cited for the physiology of breath-hold blackout, which is the single most important safety fact in spearfishing.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• Do we need species-specific guidelines for catch-and-release recreational angling?

  Biodiversity and Conservation 14:1195–1209, 2005 · Scientific literature

  Cited where FishingHQ declines to give one release instruction for all fish. The refusal is a finding in the literature rather than editorial caution.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The sections assessing which handling variables generalise across species

  Must confirm:

  That the authors find general release guidance useful but incomplete, and that they identify hooking location, air exposure and gear choice among the variables whose effect direction is consistent across species.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Restrict FishingHQ's generalisation to the taxa the paper names and label the wider statement as interpretation.

• EMODnet — the European Marine Observation and Data Network

  The European Commission, assembled from the national hydrographic offices, geological surveys and marine institutes of the member states · Scientific institute

  Cited on continental European place records for ground, substrate and depth character. Never cited for access, permission or any current rule, and never for a claim finer than the resolution it publishes.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The bathymetry, seabed substrate and seabed habitat products for the sea area concerned, and the coastline and human-activities layers where access or infrastructure is described

  Must confirm:

  That the depth profile, seabed substrate class and habitat type stated for a named European coastal feature match what the assembled national survey data shows for that location, at the resolution the product publishes rather than at a finer one.

  If it supports something narrower:

  State the substrate and the general depth character and drop any claim about a specific depth, a specific bank or a boundary between substrate types.

• Environment Agency fisheries management, byelaws and rod licensing information

  Environment Agency · Government fisheries body

  The regulator for freshwater fisheries in ENGLAND. Cited only for the existence and shape of regulatory frameworks, never for what the current rules are.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The national byelaws and rod fishing licence guidance

  Must confirm:

  That FishingHQ describes the SHAPE of the licensing and byelaw framework correctly — that a licence exists, who administers it, what byelaws cover — without stating any current rule, date or price.

  If it supports something narrower:

  If any FishingHQ sentence can be read as stating a current rule, rewrite it as a concept and add the pattern to the scope audit.

• FAO fishing gear types and fishing technology information

  Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations · Scientific institute

  The standard international reference for commercial fishing gear mechanics. The basis of the Other Fishing records.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The gear type fact sheets for trawls, purse seines, longlines, pots and traps

  Must confirm:

  The mechanical description of each gear type and its characteristic selectivity and bycatch profile, and the mitigation measures described for longline seabird bycatch.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Restrict the FishingHQ description to gear mechanics and remove generalised impact statements.

• FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues

  Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations · Scientific institute

  The second authoritative compilation behind the prey graph. Recorded with an explicit instruction about taxonomic granularity, because that is where diet claims go wrong.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The species account for each species FishingHQ states a diet or distribution claim from, in the relevant regional guide or family catalogue

  Must confirm:

  The binomial, the family placement, the stated food items, and the geographic range, read from the species account itself.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Encode the diet claim at the granularity the account uses — if it names a family or a functional group rather than a species, the graph edge must point at a taxon record and not at a species.

• Fear of fishers: human predation explains behavioral changes in coral reef fishes

  PLoS ONE 6(8): e22761, 2011 · Scientific literature

  The evidential basis for treating diver avoidance as learned and measurable. Cited wherever FishingHQ says that heavily hunted fish are harder to approach, so that the statement is not resting on what divers report.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The flight initiation distance measurements comparing fished and protected reef areas, and the treatment of spearfishing as a distinct fishing pressure

  Must confirm:

  That flight initiation distance in targeted reef fish is measurably greater where fishing occurs than inside protected areas, that the effect is species-specific and stronger in larger-bodied targeted species, and that spearfishing is identified among the pressures driving it.

  If it supports something narrower:

  State the flight-distance finding only for the species groups and the reef system the paper actually measured, and label the general 'fish learn to avoid spearfishers' statement as interpretation rather than as a finding.

• Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance

  US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 2022 · Standards body

  Read in full in Sprint 42. The evidence base for the catch-to-table layer: scombrotoxin, parasites and natural toxins. The mechanisms are published; the processor control limits are deliberately not.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• FishBase: a global information system on fishes

  Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium · Scientific institute

  The most complete aggregation of published fish biology available, compiled from primary literature and itself widely cited in it. Used for taxonomy, size ranges, diet and current conservation category.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• Fishers' Craft and Lettered Art: Tracts on Fishing from the End of the Middle Ages

  University of Toronto Press, 1997 · Scientific literature

  A scholarly edition of late-medieval fishing texts. The evidential basis for the history records, as distinct from popular retellings of them.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The editorial introduction and the comparative analysis of the tracts

  Must confirm:

  That medieval European fishing tracts circulated independently across several vernaculars with shared practical content, and how that tradition relates to the Treatyse.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Confine FishingHQ's claims to the specific traditions Hoffmann documents.

• Fishing Knots — which knot for which line

  Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department · Government fisheries body

  Read, and then rejected as a diagram reference because it contains no tying steps. Retained because it settles the braid disagreement between the other two agency sources.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• Freshwater Fishes of the British Isles

  HarperCollins (New Naturalist 75), 1992 · Reference work

  The standard British reference on freshwater fish biology, written by fisheries scientists. Excellent on identification and lifecycle; superseded on taxonomy.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The species accounts for each freshwater species FishingHQ covers

  Must confirm:

  Identification features, spawning timing and habitat associations.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Mark the FishingHQ statement as regional to the British Isles rather than general.

• Freshwater Fishing

  Macdonald & Jane's, 1975 · Specialist angling publication

  A comprehensive compendium of British freshwater practice. Nominated as the canonical knot reference and unable to serve as one until it is read.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The sections on knots, rigs and species-specific method

  Must confirm:

  The knot constructions FishingHQ describes — particularly the Palomar, the grinner, the double overhand loop and the blood knot — stage by stage.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Attribute specifically rather than generally, and downgrade any diagram resting on it.

• Functions of shoaling behaviour in teleosts

  In: Pitcher TJ (ed.) Behaviour of Teleost Fishes, 2nd edn. Chapman & Hall, London, 1993 · Scientific literature

  Cited on the schooling record. The reason that page is about what a school is for rather than what one looks like.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The sections on predator confusion, the many-eyes effect, and the structural response of a school to an approaching predator

  Must confirm:

  That the anti-predator functions of shoaling include earlier detection through shared vigilance and reduced individual capture probability through the confusion effect, and that schools respond to an approaching predator with characteristic manoeuvres rather than simple dispersal.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Describe only the functions the chapter establishes and drop any FishingHQ statement about how a school responds specifically to a diver.

• General angling website restatements of established technique

  Various · Credible secondary source

  RECORDED SO IT CAN BE DISCOUNTED. The mass of online angling content restates a handful of twentieth-century compendia; this record makes that structurally visible.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Restates: falkus-buller-freshwater-fishing

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  Any given restatement

  Must confirm:

  Whether the restatement adds independent observation or reproduces the compendium tradition.

  If it supports something narrower:

  If it adds nothing it must never count towards independence — which `derivesFrom` already enforces.

• Good Fish Guide

  Marine Conservation Society · Conservation authority

  A consumer-facing sustainability assessment grounded in stock and gear data. Used for the environmental records rather than the species records.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The ratings methodology page

  Must confirm:

  That ratings are assigned to combinations of stock, gear and management rather than to species, and how the rating bands are defined.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Report the rating as stock-and-gear specific, which is how the Guide frames it.

• How to Tie Fishing Knots — uni, blood, improved blood, surgeon's and loop knots

  Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (Take Me Fishing) · Angling or fisheries organisation

  A national angling-participation charity's knot library. Read in full for the blood, surgeon's and loop knots, and used with a stated reservation: the material is competent on topology and demonstrably sloppy on step order.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• Humane Harvesting of Fish: percussive stunning and percussive equipment

  Humane Slaughter Association · Angling or fisheries organisation

  Recorded as a known and named gap in the dispatch evidence rather than as a citation. Nothing rests on it.

  Not yet checked · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The percussive stunning and percussive equipment pages of the Humane Harvesting of Fish resource.

  Must confirm:

  Where on the skull the blow must land for a hand-held priest, the mechanism by which a percussive blow produces insensibility, what the HSA states about the priest's dependence on the operator's strength and consistency, and which reflex checks it recommends for confirming insensibility.

  If it supports something narrower:

  If the resource addresses only commercial harvest stations and not hand-held dispatch by an individual, say so and continue to rest the dispatch record on the peer-reviewed review instead, which is where it rests now.

• Humane stunning or stun/killing in the slaughter of wild-caught finfish: The scientific evidence base

  Animal Welfare (Universities Federation for Animal Welfare), volume 34, e33, 2025 · Scientific literature

  The evidence base for the dispatch record. Cited for the standard a stun must meet and for the welfare position of leaving a fish to die in air or on ice.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• ICES Advice on fishing opportunities, catch and effort

  International Council for the Exploration of the Sea · Scientific institute

  The scientific body providing stock assessment and advice for the North Atlantic. Used for the fact that assessment happens at stock level, never for a specific figure.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The stock advice sheet for the relevant stock and year

  Must confirm:

  That the stock status characterisation used on FishingHQ pages reflects the most recent advice, and that it is attributed to the correct stock rather than to the species as a whole.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Replace any species-level statement with a stock-level one, or remove it.

• IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements

  International Game Fish Association · Angling or fisheries organisation

  The body maintaining international angling records and line class standards. Cited wherever a line rating is discussed as a measured quantity rather than a label.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• JNCC species and habitat conservation advice

  Joint Nature Conservation Committee · Conservation authority

  The UK's statutory adviser on nature conservation. Used for habitat and protected-site concepts.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The chalk rivers habitat account and the designated-site guidance

  Must confirm:

  The characterisation of chalk rivers as a distinct, groundwater-fed protected habitat type.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Reduce the claim to the habitat description JNCC actually publishes.

• Knots Every Angler Should Know

  Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 2015 · Government fisheries body

  A US state fisheries agency's own knot instruction. Read in full and used as a canonical sequence reference for four knot diagrams — the first reference in the repository that has actually been read and can support one.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• Lateral line system of fish

  Integrative Zoology 4:13–25, 2009 · Scientific literature

  Cited for what the lateral line actually does, which is narrower than what lure descriptions usually imply.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The sections on neuromast function, stimulus range and hydrodynamic imaging

  Must confirm:

  That the lateral line responds to water motion and pressure gradients in the near field rather than to sound at distance, the approximate spatial scale over which it operates, and that fish use it to detect prey-generated flow.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Remove any FishingHQ statement about the range at which a lure's vibration is detectable and keep only the mechanism.

• Learn to fish: tying the knot

  Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, 2025 · Government fisheries body

  A second, independent government fishing-education source for the same three knots. Its value is that it was written separately from the Iowa page and agrees with it — and that where it disagrees with FishingHQ, it does so on the record.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• Met Office shipping forecast, inshore waters forecast and marine warnings

  Met Office, United Kingdom · Government fisheries body

  The second of the two forecasters, cited so the material is about reading a forecast rather than about reading a British one.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The inshore waters forecast definitions and the sea state and visibility scales

  Must confirm:

  The area structure of the inshore waters forecast, the definitions used for sea state and visibility, and the gale warning criteria.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Describe only the forecast elements the source defines and drop the rest.

• NASCO conservation and management of North Atlantic salmon

  North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization · Government fisheries body

  The intergovernmental body for Atlantic salmon conservation. Used for the migratory life history and the documented decline.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The state of North Atlantic salmon stocks reports

  Must confirm:

  The characterisation of Atlantic salmon marine survival decline and the drivers NASCO identifies.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Attribute each driver individually rather than as a combined statement.

• NOAA Diving Manual: Diving for Science and Technology

  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Department of Commerce · Scientific institute

  The optics authority behind the apparent-size and apparent-distance records. Cited so that refraction is physics on this platform rather than diving folklore.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The chapter on the physics of diving, specifically the sections on refraction through a mask, apparent size and distance, and the attenuation and scattering of light in water

  Must confirm:

  That objects viewed through a flat mask faceplate appear approximately a quarter closer and about a third larger than they are, that this follows from the refractive index difference between water and air, and that turbidity increases scattering such that apparent distance judgements degrade further in poor visibility.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Explain the refraction mechanism and the direction of the error without quoting the quarter-and-a-third figures, which is the position the record already takes for anything beyond a clear-water flat faceplate.

• NOAA National Ocean Service education on estuaries and the National Estuarine Research Reserve System

  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States · Government fisheries body

  Cited for how an estuary works physically, which is what makes the fishing legible rather than mysterious.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The estuary tutorial sections on salinity gradients, stratification and nursery function

  Must confirm:

  That estuarine salinity varies with tide and freshwater input along a gradient, that salt wedge and partially mixed structures occur and depend on flow and tidal energy, and that estuaries function as nursery habitat for a large share of coastal fish species.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Keep the salinity-gradient description and remove any FishingHQ statement about the proportion of species that use estuaries as nurseries.

• NOAA National Weather Service marine forecasts and marine weather services

  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States · Government fisheries body

  One of two national forecasters cited so the weather-window material describes a class of product rather than one country's.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The marine forecast product descriptions and the definitions of the warning tiers

  Must confirm:

  What a coastal, offshore and high-seas forecast covers, what wind speed thresholds define a small craft advisory, a gale warning and a storm warning, and that forecast wave height is a significant wave height rather than a maximum.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Describe the tiers qualitatively and remove any wind-speed figures the product descriptions do not state.

• NOAA Ocean Service tides and water levels educational tutorial

  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States · Government fisheries body

  Used for the physics of tides in the sea fishing pillar. Deliberately chosen over a single-country hydrographic source so the record does not describe one coast's tides as the general case.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• NOAA research and management guidance on the invasive Indo-Pacific lionfish

  NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science · Scientific institute

  Cited on the Caribbean and invasive-species material. The reason FishingHQ can say removal helps there without implying that spearfishing is conservation generally.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The invasive lionfish research programme pages and removal-effectiveness findings

  Must confirm:

  That Pterois lionfish are established as an invasive predator in the western Atlantic and Caribbean, that targeted removal by divers is used as a local management measure, and that its documented effect is local and requires sustained effort rather than being an eradication.

  If it supports something narrower:

  State that removal is practised and encouraged in places, and drop any FishingHQ statement about measured ecological recovery following removal.

• Pike and the Pike Angler

  Stanley Paul, 1981 · Specialist angling publication

  The standard specialist work on pike angling, and the origin of FishingHQ's scepticism about size claims.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The chapters on deadbaiting, on wire traces and on large pike

  Must confirm:

  The deadbaiting method, the reasoning for a bite-resistant trace, and the treatment of exceptional-size claims.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Attribute the practice to Buller specifically and check whether other originals record it independently before calling it consensus.

• Pike Anglers' Club of Great Britain guidance on pike care and handling

  Pike Anglers' Club of Great Britain, 1977 · Angling or fisheries organisation

  ADDED IN SPRINT 2. The UK's specialist pike organisation, founded 1977. Genuinely independent of the angling press, and the source of the 18°C warm-water threshold.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• Pike: Biology and Exploitation

  Chapman & Hall (Fish and Fisheries Series 19), 1996 · Scientific literature

  The standard scientific monograph on Esox lucius. Metadata verified; contents unread. Its load has been redistributed to the author's readable 2008 review.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The chapters on feeding ecology and on growth

  Must confirm:

  Pike feeding ecology, prey selection by size, and the growth pattern producing large females — the last of which is the claim least supported by the 2008 review paper that now stands alongside this book.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Reduce the FishingHQ statements to the specific populations studied.

• Reef Fish Spawning Aggregations: Biology, Research and Management

  Springer, Fish & Fisheries Series vol. 35, 2012 · Scientific literature

  Cited on the spawning-aggregation record and wherever FishingHQ says that selectivity does not prevent local depletion. The evidential centre of the conservation family.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The chapters on aggregation vulnerability to fishing, on documented aggregation declines and disappearances, and on the management measures applied to aggregation sites

  Must confirm:

  That transient spawning aggregations concentrate a large share of a population's reproductive output in predictable places and times, that they are disproportionately vulnerable to fishing because catch rates stay high while the population falls, and that a number of documented aggregations have declined sharply or ceased to form after being fished.

  If it supports something narrower:

  State the vulnerability mechanism and name only the species groups and regions the volume actually documents, and drop any general claim about aggregations failing to reform.

• Regulation of lead fishing weights results in mute swan population recovery

  Biological Conservation, 2019 · Scientific literature

  ADDED IN SPRINT 2. Turns the lead story from a restriction into a restriction with a measured outcome, which is a far more useful thing for a reader to know.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The results section reporting the mute swan population index before and after 1987

  Must confirm:

  That the recovery in the mute swan population index is attributed to the lead weight regulation rather than to a confounding factor, and the size of the effect.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Report the association without attributing causation, and say which other factors the authors considered.

• Review of the evidence of sentience in cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans

  LSE Consulting, LSE Enterprise Ltd, The London School of Economics and Political Science, 2021 · Scientific literature

  Cited for why decapods and cephalopods are treated as welfare subjects in the handling records. The specific recommendations are not claimed from it.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The report's conclusions on strength of evidence per taxon, and its recommendations chapter on slaughter and handling practices.

  Must confirm:

  Which taxa the report places at which confidence level, and the exact wording of its recommendations on boiling alive, on live dismemberment and tailing, on freshwater immersion, and on the sale of live decapods to untrained handlers.

  If it supports something narrower:

  State the report's overall conclusion and the direction of its recommendations without attributing a specific list of prohibited methods to it.

• RNLI water safety guidance: cold water shock and Float to Live

  Royal National Lifeboat Institution · Water-safety or diver-training authority

  The UK's principal water rescue charity and the authority FishingHQ relies on for immersion risk — which is what actually kills anglers.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• Rock fishing safety and the declared lifejacket areas of New South Wales

  NSW Department of Primary Industries and Surf Life Saving NSW · Water-safety or diver-training authority

  The most developed rock-fishing safety regime in the world, cited for behaviour rather than for law. Its existence is the argument for taking rock marks seriously.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The rock fishing safety guidance and the current list of local government areas where lifejacket wear is mandatory

  Must confirm:

  That lifejacket wear while rock fishing is legally required in specified New South Wales local government areas, and the standing safety guidance on observing a mark before fishing it, never turning your back on the sea, and planning an exit.

  If it supports something narrower:

  State the requirement as applying only to the areas the source lists, and never imply the rule extends beyond New South Wales.

• RoSPA water safety information and UK accidental drowning statistics

  Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents · Water-safety or diver-training authority

  Used for the framing that immersion, not tackle, is the dominant angling risk — a claim this review found to be understated rather than overstated.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• Sea Angler

  Bauer Media · Specialist angling publication

  A long-running British sea angling magazine whose contributors are largely independent of the freshwater literature. Cited at title level, which is a known weakness.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  Feature articles on shore and boat method for the species FishingHQ covers

  Must confirm:

  That the sea-angling practice FishingHQ describes as conventional is presented as such across multiple independent contributors, with dates and authors recorded.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Downgrade the affected claim from practitioner consensus to anecdotal and say so on the page.

• Shark Trust identification guides and angling best practice

  The Shark Trust · Angling or fisheries organisation

  The recognised UK reference for shark, skate and ray identification and for angler handling practice. Used for identification and handling, never for whether a species may be retained.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The British shark, skate and ray identification guides, and the Shark Recording Network angler guidance on handling, unhooking and release.

  Must confirm:

  Diagnostic identification characters separating the British skates and rays and the British dogfishes and smooth-hounds, and the handling and release practice the Trust asks anglers to follow.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Attribute the handling practice to the Trust's own wording rather than to anglers or to fisheries science generally, and keep identification characters separate from any retention or protection claim.

• Shellfish classification

  Food Standards Agency, 2026 · Government fisheries body

  Cited for the existence of an official classification regime for shellfish beds and for who administers it. The categories are not claimed from it.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The 'Shellfish classification' guidance document and the local action group guide linked from the landing page.

  Must confirm:

  The classification categories applied to bivalve production areas, what treatment each category requires before the shellfish may be placed on the market, what the E. coli monitoring underlying classification measures, and which body performs the classification.

  If it supports something narrower:

  State only that a classification system exists and is administered by the food safety authority, which is the position the records take now.

• Still Water Fly-Fishing

  Andre Deutsch, 1952 · Specialist angling publication

  An independent original for stillwater fly fishing, from a different tradition from the river literature.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The chapters on reservoir tactics and on artificial flies

  Must confirm:

  The stillwater fly method and the reasoning behind the patterns described.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Present as Ivens's own practice and reasoning.

• Still-Water Angling

  MacGibbon & Kee, 1953 · Specialist angling publication

  The book that reshaped British coarse angling. An independent original, and the head of a long lineage of restatement.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The chapters on carp and on tackle design

  Must confirm:

  Walker's stillwater carp method and his reasoning about rod and line selection.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Present these as Walker's own practice and reasoning rather than as general practice.

• The Compleat Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Recreation

  Richard Marriot, 1653 · Reference work

  The most influential book in the history of angling in English. Read in full for this review. Cited as historical and cultural evidence, never as support for a technique.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• The Control of Pollution (Anglers' Lead Weights) Regulations 1986

  The Stationery Office (UK statutory instrument), 1986 · Standards body

  ADDED IN SPRINT 2. The statutory instrument itself, replacing a second-hand attribution. Note that it has been amended since; FishingHQ cites its existence and shape, not its current consolidated text.

  Passage read and verified · Independent original

• The Ecology of Vision

  Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1979 · Scientific literature

  The source that lets the lure-colour page separate optics from folklore. Cited for what water does to light, not for what fish prefer.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The chapters on underwater light, spectral transmission and visual pigments

  Must confirm:

  The order and approximate depth scale of spectral attenuation in clear oceanic water, the contrasting transmission of tannin-stained and turbid inland water, and the relationship between the light available in a habitat and the visual pigments of fish living in it.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Express attenuation qualitatively — the order in which colours are lost — and remove any depth figures the work does not support.

• The European Environment Agency's assessments of Europe's waters, seas and coasts

  European Environment Agency, Copenhagen · Conservation authority

  Cited on continental European place and region records for what has been done to a water — modification, barriers, designation and pressure — and never for a current rule or a permission.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The state-of-the-environment reporting for Europe's seas and for surface waters, including water body status classification, hydromorphological pressure, and the coverage and designation of marine and freshwater protected sites

  Must confirm:

  That the described condition of a named European water body — its classification, the pressures recorded on it, and whether it lies within a designated protected site — matches the agency's current published assessment rather than an earlier reporting cycle.

  If it supports something narrower:

  State the direction and the kind of pressure and drop any classification label, percentage or site boundary.

• The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe

  Macmillan, 1969 · Reference work

  A comprehensive systematic account, unmatched on identification and superseded on nomenclature.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The species accounts and identification keys

  Must confirm:

  Morphological identification features and the distinctions between confusable species.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Record the current accepted name and note the older one as a synonym.

• The Flood Pulse Concept in River-Floodplain Systems

  Canadian Special Publication of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 106, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Ottawa, 1989 · Scientific literature

  Cited on the floodplain and tropical-river records and wherever FishingHQ explains why a tropical river fishery follows water level rather than the calendar.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The statement of the concept itself, and the sections on the aquatic/terrestrial transition zone and on fish production in the flooded forest

  Must confirm:

  That in large unregulated river-floodplain systems the seasonal flood pulse, rather than the river channel, is the principal driver of biological productivity; that a large share of fish production occurs on the floodplain during inundation rather than in the channel; and that many fish species move laterally onto the floodplain to feed and breed and return to the channel as water falls.

  If it supports something narrower:

  State the lateral movement and the productivity of the inundated floodplain, and drop any claim about the proportion of total production the floodplain contributes.

• The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

  International Union for Conservation of Nature · Conservation authority

  The standard global reference for conservation status. Used for every `conservationStatus` field and for nothing else — a Red List assessment says nothing about how to fish for something.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The species assessment page for each species FishingHQ states a status for

  Must confirm:

  The assessment category, its date, and whether the assessment is global or regional, read from the assessment itself rather than from a database that republishes it.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Where the assessment is regional, or the population is assessed separately, change the record to `varies_by_population` and name the population the figure applies to.

• The World's Mangroves and their Fisheries — FAO Forestry and Fisheries assessments

  Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome · Standards body

  Cited on the mangrove and tropical estuary records and wherever FishingHQ links a tropical inshore fishery to the habitat that produces it.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The sections on the extent and loss of mangrove area, on the nursery function of mangrove for coastal fisheries, and on the fisheries dependent on mangrove systems

  Must confirm:

  That mangrove systems function as nursery habitat for a substantial share of tropical coastal fisheries species; that global mangrove extent has declined markedly over recent decades, with aquaculture conversion, timber extraction and coastal development among the principal causes; and that the dependence of specific fisheries — notably penaeid prawns and mud crab — on mangrove habitat is documented rather than inferred.

  If it supports something narrower:

  State the nursery function and the direction of the decline, and drop any specific figure for area lost or for the proportion of catch attributable to mangrove.

• Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle

  Wynkyn de Worde, in the Boke of Saint Albans, 1496 · Reference work

  The earliest substantial printed work on angling in English. Cited for the history records only.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The sections on rod making, line making and baits

  Must confirm:

  That the text describes rod construction, horsehair line, hook making from needles and a seasonal bait calendar, and that it frames angling as recreation.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Restrict the FishingHQ statement to the practices the text describes, without inferring how widespread they were.

• Trout & Salmon

  Bauer Media · Specialist angling publication

  A long-running British game angling magazine. Used as an independent practitioner source for salmon, trout and grayling method.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  Feature articles on game angling method

  Must confirm:

  Game-angling practice described as conventional by multiple named contributors.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Downgrade to anecdotal.

• UK Diving Medical Committee guidance on medical standards for divers

  UK Diving Medical Committee · Water-safety or diver-training authority

  The second diving-medicine authority in the register. Cited on fitness to dive, where one source would not have been enough.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The guidance notes on respiratory, cardiovascular, ear and sinus conditions, and on medication, as they bear on fitness to dive

  Must confirm:

  That fitness to dive is assessed individually by a doctor with diving-medicine training rather than by self-assessment against a list, that certain respiratory, cardiovascular and ENT conditions require specific assessment before diving, and that some medications matter through their effects rather than through the condition treated.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Reduce FishingHQ's page to the existence of the assessment process and the categories of condition that require it, and drop any characterisation of what the guidance concludes about any condition.

• Understanding the Complexity of Catch-and-Release in Recreational Fishing

  Reviews in Fisheries Science 15:75–167, 2007 · Scientific literature

  The standard integrative review of catch-and-release outcomes. Metadata verified and extended; full text still unread.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The biological sections on hooking mortality, air exposure and water temperature

  Must confirm:

  That post-release mortality varies widely by species, gear and handling, and that air exposure, exhaustion, water temperature and hooking location are among the strongest predictors — with the direction and approximate magnitude of each.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Name only the specific handling variables the synthesis supports and drop any FishingHQ has added.

• United States Lifesaving Association public education on rip currents and the surf zone

  United States Lifesaving Association · Water-safety or diver-training authority

  Cited where surf-beach reading and surf-beach danger are the same feature seen twice.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The rip current identification and escape guidance, and the surf zone hazard pages

  Must confirm:

  How rip currents form and how they are identified from shore, the recommended response on being caught in one, and the statement that rips are the dominant surf-zone rescue cause.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Keep only the formation mechanism and drop any FishingHQ statement about how a wading angler should respond.

• Words of the Lagoon: Fishing and Marine Lore in the Palau District of Micronesia

  University of California Press, Berkeley, 1981 · Reference work

  Cited on the Pacific and Indo-Pacific records. The reason those pages describe management systems rather than picturesque technique.

  Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly · Independent original

  What a future reader must confirm in this

  Where to look:

  The chapters on customary marine tenure, on spawning-aggregation knowledge held by Palauan fishers, and on the closures applied to aggregation sites

  Must confirm:

  That reef and lagoon fishing rights in the district were held and allocated locally rather than as open access, and that fishers held detailed knowledge of spawning aggregations which was in some cases accompanied by restrictions on fishing them.

  If it supports something narrower:

  Restrict FishingHQ's statement to Palau specifically and drop the wider Pacific generalisation.