Isn't Fishing creulty to animals?

Question

If fish feel pain (as previous Yahoo Answers have opined), doesn't it mean that a fish, getting hooked by a sharp object in the mouth (fish hook) and being yanked up to hundreds of feet by it, would suffer severe discomfort?
And if that's true, shouldn't fishing as a sport be discouraged?

Answer 1

is it cruelty to fisherman when the big one gets away

Answer 2

Haven't you experienced pain once or twice in your life. All God's creatures will at some point. The reason is simple, he created us to populate the earth and we as humans have to eat to live. So he created vegetables, cows, pigs, deer,fish, etc. Its the food chain. If you feel like it is wrong don't go fishing. Personally I love it and my kids will to. It is a awesome hobbie to keep you and your family more in tune with the God's green earth and learn to appreciate what has been given to you. It also is a good outlet fors kids and teens by keeping them off the streets and out of trouble. Just be thankful you're not a fish! By the way I practice catch and release unless I feel like cleaning a few for supper. Nothing better than fresh fish. Yum!

Answer 3

Their are alot of great answers out their, for mine No it doesn't hurt the fish and it's not cruel, I'm sure on occasion a fish may die but most fisherman know how to handle them. Also fishing is a billion dollar business. Most fishermen would have a person like you arrested, if you were on our lakes, must be a typical pleasure boater that don't know anything about the outdoors. Other than racing one of them cigar boats up and around a poor fisherman's little 16 - 21 foot fishing boat. Maybe you should try doing some research.

Answer 4

I can't think of a fish prey-food that doesn't have some kind of spike or fin or other defense mechanism that is designed to cut up a fish's mouth. Fish have to be fairly insensitive to pain in the mouth. Ever notice how many fish don't start fighting until they see you? It's because they don't realize they've been hooked and that they are being preyed upon.

Answer 5

It definately feels pain, that's why they go nuts when you hook them. I dont care though cuz they are good to eat. It's just a fish. That's what God put them here for, to get caught and eaten. As for hunting if you make a good clean shot the animal is dead before it hits the ground. It's the idiots out there that shoot at animals 3 or 4 times that are the cruel ones. I was taught to make the first shot count. I have never shot at a deer twice. They were dead the first time so it's not cruel. PETA is made up of a bunch of idiots !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 6

If we could have less pain and discomfort in this world, I would be all for it. The problem is that we live in a world where pain and discomfort are necessary. Animals kill other animals, and whether we realize it or not (as we sit on our computers) we are intimately connected and dependent on the processes involved with predator prey relationships and nature. It's how the world we live in works, and we can't change it. If we stopped participating in our roles as predators we would lose an important connection with and understanding that we have of nature. I love animals. I also think that animals should be treated with the utmost respect, but that does not change the fact that we are predators over all other animals on this earth.

Catch and release fishing is a seperate issue. I have lots of experience fishing. I have worked in the fishing industry nearly my entire life, and I have a B.S. degree in ecology with emphasis in fisheries. My personal opinion is that catching and releasing fish is not cruel. However, a problem arises when fish are unintentionally, and wastefully killed. Simple steps can and should be taken to avoid this.

It is your personal decision not to fish, and I would not be critical of that. I would be critical of the fact that many people want to impose their will on others based on their own misunderstandings, but those are not necessarily your intentions. This is not a simple topic to understand if you are not "directly" dependent on nature (i.e. making your living out of the wild). The problem is that we are all directly dependent on nature and we must not lose our natural connection with it. That involves preying on other animals.

Answer 7

It can be, but perhaps not in the way you mean.

The commonly taught biology of the central nervous system of fish teaches us that fish process pain or discomfort in a much different way than we understand it; that although a fish understands that it is in pain or discomfort, the nerves do not send the same electrical pain impulses to it's brain.

This would be more akin to thinking of a fish's body like a sort of autonomous 'living coat', fully capable of understanding when pain has occurred without pain being registered.

The real cruelty I observe when fishing comes from lazy or uninformed 'catch and release' fishermen (and women);

Many people make the mistake of thinking of the scales of a fish in the same way as our own skin (i.e the outer epidermal layer). The scales of a fish, unlike the skin of an animal, is neither an organ, NOR the actual outer layer of a fish.

Fish are surrounded by a thin layer of mucus-like slime which is in fact a barrier of helpful bacteria which protect them from the aquatic environment.

This layer of slime is present everywhere on the body of a fish, except for the mouth, which is least suceptable to disease due to the actual skin-like membrane it has instead. This mouth area also has tremendous regenerative properties and can sustain and heal from an incredible amount of stress/damage.

When a fish is brought in and handled anywhere, the slimy residue that you feel on your hand is actually the equivalent of a section of skin being torn from the body of a human. Not in terms of pain, naturally, because of reasons stated above (and you will see no observable difference in the reaction in an improperly handled fish ), but the results of such an encounter would be the same as having a tremendous open first or second degree burn on your own body. ---Infection invariably sets in and kills an otherwise healthy fish over the course of days or weeks.

This CAN be avoided by taking one of two simple steps (and fishermen, who are among the most passionate and careful conservationists and animal lovers, please remember to teach this to everyone who gets in a boat with you!!!):

1.) Only a wet surface should ever come in contact with the fish! Period. Make sure you completely soak your hand (or glove) before handling the fish!

2.) Try to handle the fish only by the mouth! (This is not always possible of course, as many sportfish have mouths either too small, or teeth too large to make this effective)

It is estimated by Canadian Wildlife officials that 75-90% of all mishandled freshwater fish will die of shock or infection when improperly handled, and that a proper catch-and-release method will kill less than one fish in 300.

I breed frshwater aquarium fish and have taken some introductory University courses in icthyology (though they were mostly taxonomic (identifying/classifying) in nature), and consider myself compassionate to a fault when it comes to all living things, and would not try and turn the facts to suit my love of sportfishing.

So in answer to your question, fishing methods which are in fact cruel to these creatures and in turn harm the eco-system, I do believe should be discouraged.

As a side note....I am an avid fisherman living in Northern Ontario Canada and go fishing as many as 40 times a year, yet only keep about 6 mid-size fish a year. PLEASE be reasonable with the amount of fish you take out of the lakes. Don't confuse the legal limit allowed with the actual limit a single eco-system can take! Those big lunkers (whose meat is usually too old anyhow) will fill that lake with a few hundred more breeders a year if we let them!

Answer 8

Who cares? If God didn't want us to eat animals and fish he wouldn't have made them taste so good! All the fish I catch and release swim off no worse for wear and some of the tagged fish I have caught have been caught by others. Go catch some fish and ask them if it hurts, if they say yes you can stop. I'll keep fishing until I die

Answer 9

i guess it's all a matter of perspective. fishing isn't necessarily any more painful to the fish than for instance getting grabbed by a bear and having your flesh torn from your body while still alive. just because the bear is a wild animal, that makes it OK though, right? in the grand scheme of things, i think there are other things that people do which are far more cruel to animals than fishing.

Answer 10

OK first and for most i am a member of Peta ( people eat tasty animals ) no it is not it is scientifically pr oven that fish do not have nerves capable of feeling pain in their lips so weather you catch and release or catch and eat it is not cruel it is just good eats

Answer 11

at least in fishing the animal has a chance of being released and i always try to relase my fish alive and i have special anti bacterial formula to put on the hook puncture hole off the hook to stop infection unlike in hunting when the animal has to die