Catch and release, and conservation

What Salvadoran rules require

The fisheries regulation makes catch and release the principle of sport fishing, spells out how to handle a fish (quick dehooking, hands off the gills, no squeezing, wet hands, ideally in the water) and requires circle hooks^[1]. The country's international billfish tournament is run as a release event: its 2026 rules say marlin and sailfish must be released^[2].

Good practice for sailfish and marlin

NOAA Fisheries' general catch-and-release guidance^[3], and its billfish handling guidance for U.S. waters^[4], line up with the Salvadoran rules:

• Use circle hooks and tackle strong enough to land the fish quickly. Never fight a fish to exhaustion.
• Keep the fish in the water to dehook it. Don't lift a billfish out of the water, even for a photo.
• If the hook won't come out easily, cut the leader as close to the hook as you can.
• Never gaff a fish you plan to release.
• Revive it by moving it gently forward through the water until it regains color and swims off on its own.
• Use wet hands and avoid the eyes and gills.

For bottom fish brought up from deep water, NOAA recommends releasing them at depth with a descending device to reduce barotrauma^[3].

Places worth protecting

• Los Cóbanos: the only reef formation between Guatemala and Nicaragua on this coast, and El Salvador's first marine protected area. Coral cover has been reported as low (about 2% by 2016) and the reef is vulnerable to overfishing and sedimentation; black-coral forests below 30 m are damaged by fishing line and anchors^[5]. Ask your captain not to anchor on reef.
• Bahía de Jiquilisco: the country's largest mangrove system, a nursery for fish and shrimp, and a nesting area for four sea-turtle species^[6][7].

Simple habits

• Take your line, leader and plastic home.
• Keep only what you will eat, within the captain's limits.
• Photograph fish in the water, beside the boat.