As most fishermen are aware, there is a rising tide of animal-rights activists with their sights aimed squarely on recreational anglers. Never mind any rights you may believe you have, someone wants to take them away from you and your kids. Even if your're reading this from another country other than the United States, don't think you're immune.
The primary reason behind the anti's argument, is that fish feel pain just like we do. They honestly believe that a fish biting a baited hook, or a hook disguised as a grasshopper, is like you or me chomping down on a juicy burger and having a 4/0 hook pulled through our lip. Because of this, they often consider catch and release worse than catch and kill as the fish is repeatedly tortured. I can see where this thinking comes from, but there is more to the story than meets the eye.
Firstly, there have been many studies regarding fish, and other animals, and their ability to feel pain. The scientific literature does indicate that they do feel something, but it is not clear just how that sensation can be translated into a human experience. While I enjoy a good scientific experiment conducted in an objective manner, I have to rely my on my years of fishing experiences in forming a personal opinion. Anyone who has fished for a number of years will have stories of their own regarding this topic. Although anecdotal, this evidence is based on actual field experiences. Several incidents come to mind when I am asked about this question.
The best one
involves fly fishing for bluefish off the beach in Chatham, Massachusetts. The water was very clear and we were fishing along the edge of steep dropoff. As I stripped my line, watching the small 1/0 streamer, a large 36" bluefish followed it but did not bite. Eventually I had run out of line to strip and with the tip of the rod touching the water, the fly just 4 feet away from the tip, the bluefish hit it. I set the hook immediately, jerking his large head sideways. He just lay there, motionless in the water. I jerked the rod back again, and the deeply set hook pulled his head sideways again. No reaction. Eventually, he started swmimming off to deeper water. Only when I held the line, hindering his progression, did all hell break loose.
It was clear to me, that this fish felt virtually nothing (resembling human pain) when I set the hook repeatedly. What upset him was the resistance to his movement. The first sense he had that something was up, was when he attempted to move forward. Compare that to eating a burger with a buried hook in it. Would you have to walk out of the restaurant before realizing you were hooked?
While shark fishing one night on the East coast of South Africa, I hooked, played and shortly thereafter, lost a shark when the wire leader broke. Within 5 minutes, another angler alongside me, hooked a big shark and landed it, only to find my wire leader still in it's mouth. Even with a hook embedded in it's mouth, this shark clearly just went on feeding. One would think think that a painfull infliction in the mouth would slow feeding habits.
Once again, these are events I have witnessed personally. It is based on these, and other, encounters that I have formed the opinions I currently hold as truths. How many other fishermen have had fish come off a lure, only to turn around and grab it again. It seems clear that fish do NOT experience pain in the same way you and I do.
This does not mean that we treat fish with contempt and disregard for their well being. Quite the contrary. Most fishermen, catch fish because of their love for the slippery creatures. Catch and release is now standard practice in most sport fishing realms, and is growing all the time. Why would this be so if we didn't care about the fish? Add to this, the expanding use of circle hooks and barbless hooks indicates the level of commitment to ethical fishing and resource management. So while the animal rights activists are attacking fishermen under the supposed guise of protecting the fish, people often forget who really is protecting the fish.
The public, and particularly the activists, needs to realize where the bulk of conservation dollars come from. Nearly all fish and wildlife conservation funding, at least in the USA, comes from licenses from hunters and fishermen. It is not hikers, canoeists, photographers or any other nature lover that put up this kind of money hunters and fishermen do. Hunters and fishermen are the ultimate conservationists. They realize, that without the resource, their favorite past times, and livelihood for some, is history.
Some of the loudest voices fighting industrial pollution in our fishing waters, are fishermen. Without this voice the push for dam removal, river cleanups, anadromous fish programs, native species protection and the list goes on, would quickly dissipate. Then the very animals the anti's are trying to protect would no longer be around to protect.
So whether you believe fish feel pain or not, remember who it is that really protects this wonderful resource.
