Fishing Q&A

do you the general public think it is cruel to catch fish or to go fishing with the intention of hooking one?

just wondering what the worlds opinion is on this subject. Thanks

Public Comments

1. no people have being doing that for hundreds of years, for food, its a tradition. Im not vegan so i dont care.. i love fishing with my dad
2. no its a great day out
3. I'm a big softy when it comes to Creatures, and no sorry i'm not keen on the idea i do think it's cruel.
4. I think if you intend to eat than ok but, otherwise it is mean to hurt it for the fun of it.
5. It not cruel if your purpose is for food. What gets to me is the practice of catch and release.
6. I go fishing every summer with my dad. I see no problem with it. We obey the laws about which fish can be eat, what size, etc. I think when people don't obey the rules than it's a problem.
7. i just hate it when they screem in pain when you do hook them in the eye
8. Nothing wrong with great day of fishing,somedays i throw em back and some days i dont just depends on if im fish hungry or not..........you know a fish dont feel pain like we do dont you??
9. Fish's mouths don't have very many nerve endings in them making virtually impossible for them to feel the hook. I think fishing is great fun and a good way to catch a meal.
10. No....Its fantastic to catch a big fish.....Smack it on the head to kill it......Cut open its belly and hook out the stinking guts with my finger...scrape the scales of with my hunting knife....Then put on the flames of the barbecue and almost burn it....Then put some salt on and.....Mmmmmm...Eat it all up...lovely.....
11. No, it is not cruel to hook a fish. Every living thing needs to eat to survive. A carrot in which is planted and grown purely for food was fed with water and nutrients so that it would grow to be consumed. So because we don't keep carrots as pets, meaning they can't interact with us and aren't all cute and fuzzy, they are not to be considered a living thing at one time? My whole point is that no matter what we eat, it was a living thing at some point. So do I feel bad that I ate a carrot, because I had to hurt/kill it to consume it? Not at all, it's survival of the fittest. Sure, I could become an activist for carrots, telling the world about the cruelty that carrots endure. But we know how rediculous that would be. I agree that waste of food is what makes it cruel. Killing a carrot only to throw it away because it is spoiled is waste, just like any other food. So no I don't feel it's cruel at all. I just wish people were more conscious about the food that is wasted as not every nation is as plentiful as ours. Sorry for the sarcasm, but not sure how else to prove my point. Good Luck & God Bless!
12. No! Only the uneducated and ignorant of the populous think it's cruel. I really don't think fish feel PAIN the way we do.I've caught the same fish (Carp,Catfish etc..)hours and days after catching them with no ill effects on the fish. Also remember that the apostles were fishermen and our own Human existence is here because we were given the intelligence to harvest the bounty our Lord (supreme being if you will) gave us.
13. NO! It is good to know that someone cares enough about what the worlds opinion is to post this question. That leaves me with less time to be concerned and more time to go catch. BTW...P.E.T.A. (People Eating Tasty Animals) Rules!
14. 50 plus years of enjoyment in catching many fish has convinced me that it isn't cruel at all. In fact, it is one of the all-time best bonding activities for families to do together. Answering the question: is it cruel for the fish? - leaving out catching fish for eating and thinking only about fishing as a sport - I don't believe it is. Although we are taught that a fish doesn't feel a hook in its mouth, it is a fact that a small proportion of fish are injured or die as a result of being hooked internally rather than higher up in their mouth. When returned to the water, they make a quick and easy meal for predator fish, nature takes its course and another live fish that otherwise would have been eaten by the predator gets a reprieve. Is that cruel? Not for the one that gets the reprieve! Today's laws in the UK have enlarged the size of keep-nets, improving the survival rate for fish caught and retained for later weighing of the whole catch, i.e. at the end of fishing matches. Catch and release and the use of barbless hooks for leisure fishing have further improved survival rates - meaning the fish grow larger, there are more of them and fishing has become even more fun!
15. no, i dont think it is. Its a source of food which is very good. I dont know what I would do if I could no longer fish
16. No the general public doen't feel that way, only a few nutjobs at PETA.
17. People get caught up in fads and make assumptions with out having any knowledge or facts to back them up. PETA is a great example. They claim fishing is cruel and that fish feel pain and fear and on and on. They sponsor events in schools to discourage fishing, they want to stop you from enjoying yourself by making you feel guilty for something that is frankly, impossible. Fish are pretty primitive in the animal world. They live entirely on instinct. A fishes brain is very small compared to yours, for example. It does not have the grey matter associated with reasoning. A fish can not feel emotions like "fear". They flee when a person, bird or bigger fish comes by, but they don't reason why, it's instinct. The fish brain in lacking the higher reasoning structure of a mammal brain for example, also lacks pain centers. Fish physically can not feel pain. The reason a fish fights at the end of the line is the flight instinct kicks in and they want to get away. If a fish could reason and feel pain, you would not be able to catch the same fish over and over gain and any fisherman can attest. So, bottom line, keep fishing, enjoy the outdoors, spend time with your family, it's all good.
18. Not sure if your question is aimed at profesional fishermen or recreational anglers but my thoughts are that generally (there are always exceptions) most anglers take care not to be cruel to the fish they catch as this is there sport and they want the fish stocks to remain so they can carry on enjoying there sport, in many ways they pay good money (Liciences, club membership etc) to ensure rivers are kept stocked ensuring fish species have a purpose and will always survive The main cruelty in fishing comes from profesionals that drag massive nets thru the ocean catching everything in it's path and keeping only the targetted fish the rest of the catch (by catch) is returned to the ocean DEAD!! now thats cruel and should be stopped. Paul
19. What a question to ask in a fishing community. Go hug that tree i cut down last week with the spotted owl sitting uptop its branches...and while yer at it quit eating the tuna. damn leberals need to be libberated of all thier freedoms. If you feel hunting and fishing is cruel, then so is eating beef, pork, and chicken. all of these animals have no hope for survivng since they day they are born. at least wild animals and fish have a chance to live. And yes I love my steaks, mashed taters, and such. but i also love to hunt and fish. I feel my rights are being violated every day by the bleadinng heart libberals who just don't have a clue to how our echo system works.
20. pikeman, Cruelty is a relative thing. How cruel would it be for a child to be malnourished because someone was forced not to go fishing?
21. No it's not cruel, it's nature. Look at what fish do to each other if you want to see what's cruel, but that's nature too. Life ain't a Dysney movie...