Killing Specimen Fish

I don't want this to come across too "Green Peacey" but its something thats been gnawing at me especially with the Summer around the corner as well as things like the arrival of the Thwaite Shad.
I've claimed a few specimens in the past but I would be very slow to do it now if it meant killing the fish in question. Things like the Shad, bass, flatfish etc are under serious pressure so while I love the cert on the wall I don’t think its justified anymore. I appreciate the difficulties and the need to have an above board system but surely nobody is going to mistake a thick lipped mullet for some other fish or a thwaite shad for that matter!
The Board does sterling work and fair dues to them but if any possible alternative to killing fish is available it should be pursued. Even if it meant opening the system to some level of abuse I think 99% of anglers would stay within the rules. Surely a combo of pictures, witnesses, measurements, reliable scales and some sort of skin/scale sample would do the job?
Thats my 2 cents anyway.

Very well put Blaker,

i was in the position more than one time in the past, kill the fish or forget about the cert. but each time i returned the fish :D .
i am not 100% sure but as far as i know you can get a scales certafied.
that along with photos and at least one witness is good enough.
as i siad im not entirely sure, but i will check it out and post the result.

I saw a nice idea down in Cloghan in Kerry recently. There is a local bass angling club run out of the pub by the pier, they sell booklets on bass angling in the area. Their idea is that there is no need to kill any fish. So they have run an iniative whereby any angler who catches a bass of 5lbs plus, can simply drop into the pub, supply their details, and walk out with a cert saying" XYZ caught an Xlb bass on xx/yy/zz". Without having to produce the dead fish (in fact I have the feeling they wouldn't be over the moon if you walked in with a dead bass!). They don't even need to see a photo!

I think this is a nice idea. And as the barmen said, 99.9% of people requesting certs are genuine about having caught the fish. And who cares if the other 0.1% are lying, if it means more bass are being released after capture.

Yeah the Cloghans thing is something along the lines of what I'm talking about and it could even be made a lot more watertight than that.
I am really talking specifically (from my experience) about shad, mullet and dab. Bodies must be sent to Dublin and it really is a shame.
Its definite that a few would abuse a more open system but thats probably even th case now. 3 times last year I had mullet to within .1 of a pound of the weight. I briefly considered ignoring the shortfall and claiming anyway each time before slipping the fish back. It would not be the same at all and I'm sure the vast majority of anglers would be feel the same way about an unmeited cert.