When it comes to working with wildlife every species deserves respect. Each one lives a life that we try to understand but we truly can’t since critters can’t talk to us with words, only body language and sounds. As photographers it is our jobs to interpret theses signals and acknowledge them. Well aquatic species are no different, in fact they are even more fragile and deserve that much more respect.
The best way to work with these species is with an underwater housing but most of us don’t have that so we do the next best thing which is to take the subject out of the water. This is hard on any fish species because they don’t have lungs. They breath through their gills. This means that there is very little time when they are removed from the water. Right now in Montana Hoot Owl restrictions have started on some of the rivers which means it’s even more imperative to get the pictures done fast so that every subject is safe.