5. Conclusions and recommendations
5.1. Comparison of holding types and duration
We recommend that the holding method employed for a RAMP study be determined based on the goal of minimizing stress experienced by the study animals within the logistic constraints of the study (Table 3). For example, if there are no wet-laboratory facilities near the fishing port then it is preferable to use on-board holding or at-sea cages to minimize time that the animal spends out of water and in transport. Similarly, if the fishing trips associated with a fishery of interest are long in duration, it is not feasible to bring animals to a laboratory and would therefore require on-board holding or at-sea cages depending on available deck space and plumbing, and ability to return to a location to retrieve the cages. Moreover, we recommend evaluating the mortality of Score-zero and, when possible, control animals as a potential indicator of stressful holding conditions. For this study, 5 days was sufficient time to determine delayed mortality for Tanner crab with all Scores, and was short enough that it did not confuse mortality attributed to fishing stressors with that attributed to holding for longer periods.