A “Rocky” Occasion: the Life of Yelloweye Rockfish
This is a comic I created for 8-12 year old children to learn more about yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) and the challenges they face. To read the comic, hover your mouse on the picture, then click on the left and right arrows beside the comic or use the left and right arrows on your keyboard. For mobile users, simply swipe right and left on the image to view other pages.
Some key facts:
- Yelloweye rockfish live up to 118 years old, and take decades to mature and reproduce. As such, they are particularly vulnerable to overfishing.
- Of all rockfish that were caught, 89% were caught by the recreational fishing industry. It is required to release all rockfish caught as bycatch in rockfish conservation areas.
- Rockfish have swim bladders that are closed from the environment. This makes them unable to adapt to the fast pressure changes when being brought to the surface since their swim bladder will expand and compress/force out other organs. This process is known as “barotrauma”, and can result in death.
- Descending devices are a promising solution to relieve barotrauma. It involves quickly bringing rockfish back to their suitable depth using specialized hooks, or even homemade crates. Learn more about descending devices in this infographic and this blog post (CW: graphic depiction of death by barotrauma).
Here are some real life images of yelloweye rockfish.
Side note: this is my first time drawing a comic on my own. Though it is simple (and one may argue that it’s quite unpolished), I’m proud of the end result. I hope you enjoyed reading it!
References:
Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat. (2012). Stock assessment for the inside population of Yelloweye Rockfish (Sebastes Ruberrimus) in British Columbia, Canada for 2010 ( 2011/084). Fisheries and Oceans Canada. https://waves-vagues.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/346394.pdf
Fisheries and Oceans Canada. (2021). Management plan for the Yelloweye Rockfish (Sebastes Ruberrimus) in Canada. https://wildlife-species.canada.ca/species-risk-registry/virtual_sara/files/plans/Mp-YelloweyeRockfishSebasteYeuxJaunes-v00-2021Jan-Eng.pdf
Matthews, C. (2021). Has the pandemic caused illegal fishing to rise in Rockfish conservation areas? Galiano Conservancy Association. https://galianoconservancy.ca/has-the-pandemic-caused-illegal-fishing-to-rise-in-rockfish-conservation-areas/
Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann, (1983). A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. (2022). Yelloweye Rockfish. FishBase. https://www.fishbase.ca/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?ID=3996&AT=yelloweye+rockfish
Yelloweye Rockfish species profile. (n.d.). Alaska Department of Fish and Game. https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=yelloweyerockfish.main
Yelloweye Rockfish. (n.d.). NOAA Fisheries. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/yelloweye-rockfish
Photo attributions:
“Yelloweye rockfish. Jervis Inlet, British Columbia. Juvenile.” by Neil McDaniel is licensed under CC BY 4.0. No changes were made.
“Yelloweye rockfish. Jervis Inlet, British Columbia.” by Neil McDaniel is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Photo cropped.