ARFF - Fishing


	Sinking the Myths Fishing does not teach respect and appreciation for the outdoors; instead fishing instills or reinforces insensitivity toward animals and life in general. Fishing entertains at the expense of innocent animals.
	Fish Feel Pain Too! Many people assume that fish don’t feel pain because they don’t express it in ways that humans easily recognize. Humans rarely have contact with fish like they have with birds and mammals. However, despite their lack of fur or wings, fish have fully developed brains and nervous systems. They are sensitive to changes in their surroundings, experience pain and distress, and even show altruism. Fish use their sensitive mouths to gather food, build nests, and for hiding their young. Fishing hooks tear apart their fragile mouths and cause pain. Swallowed hooks damage internal organs. Hooks can also become caught in gills or eyes. Once impaled, fish are “played” until exhaustion, and yanked into an environment in which they cannot breathe. In deep-sea fishing, the use of sharp metal hooks called “gaffs” is quite common. Gaffs are impaled in the body of a fully conscious fish to make it easier to load the fish onto a boat. Suffering is prolonged as fish are forced to die a slow, torturous death of suffocation.
	Catch-and-Release: The Painful Reality Millions of fish annually are subjected to severe pain and stress by catch-and-release fishing. For some, catch-and-release is motivated by a belief that fish are too valuable to be caught just once. In addition, they hope that releasing them will produce larger fish to be caught later. Others view catch-and-release as a way to extend a fishing trip after the legal catch limit has been reached. A single angler can catch and release over a hundred fish in a day. Torn mouths and net marks on their bodies identify previously caught fish. Contrary to claims of proponents, there is nothing sporting or conservationist about catch-and-release fishing. Proponents claim that “catch-and release” fishing is a humane form of fishing, because the fish are returned to the water. However, most fish are not released successfully. Many fish are tossed into the water maimed, and doomed to suffer a slow and agonizing death. Careless handling often causes broken jaws (resulting in starvation), internal injuries, and loss of a protective body coating essential to their survival. These conditions, combined with stress and exhaustion, can lead to death even days after release. Simply removing a fish from water is harmful. Changes in pressure and temperature caused by pulling a fish up from deep water can be fatal.
	Live Bait Live bait includes any living animal or parts of dead animals, such as heads, eyes, tails, or eggs that are fastened to a hook and used to induce a fish to bite. Animals commonly used as live bait include frogs, small fish, slugs, and insects. Frogs are hooked through the leg and back and drowned. Small fish are pierced with one or two hooks through the eye sockets, tail, lips, or back, and are cast into the water where they are eaten, or die of their injuries.
	Death and Injury to Other Wildlife Every year millions of birds and mammals suffer and die from injuries caused by lost and discarded fishing hooks, monofilament line, and lead weights. Birds pick up hooks and weights while feeding and become entangled in the nearly invisible fishing line. Pelicans, egrets, herons, turtles, and manatees are often found with injuries from fishing tackle. Entanglement can lead to starvation, or, if the line has cut off blood circulation in a foot or wing, infection and eventually death. Today’s fishing line is not easily biodegradable and remains a hazard to wildlife for many years.
	In February 2005, a sea turtle was found in Florida's Intracoastal Waterway with monofilament fishing line trailing from his mouth. X-rays indicated 2 hooks inside inside the turtle. Unfortunately, one of the hooks was lodged in the esophagus and could not be removed. After a month of treatment at the Marinelife Center of Juno Beach, the turtle was released back into the ocean.
	What You Can Do • Never go fishing; instead, choose water sports that don’t harm others, like swimming, canoeing, scuba diving, or surfing. • Educate others about the suffering of fish who are caught and released. • Don’t eat fish or anyone with a face. Inform local “seafood” restaurants that you’d like to see veggie food on the menu. • Get local fishing tournaments stopped by suggesting alternatives to sponsors, or protest on site. • Keep an eye on the local press. Respond through the editorial page to stories on fishing events or on injuries to wildlife from fishing line or hooks. • Work to change rules and regulations. Contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (online comment form) and propose a ban on the collection of turtles and frogs (some species are in serious decline in Florida), propose a requirement that all hooks be barbless, propose a ban on live baiting, or a prohibition of spearing and archery fishing. • Work to create No-Fishing-Zones for wildlife. Contact local wildlife rehabilitators and identify which are problem waters. • Protest! Pick a good date and location, such as a fishing tournament, or leaflet outside a fishing store. Don’t let children’s programs go unnoticed. Stress the moral issue of introducing children to animal abuse and violence. • During a fishing tournament, host a shore cleanup and collect fishing-related waste. Afterwards contact the media and with all of the collected garbage explain why anglers kill and injure more than fish. • Join ARFF! Make your voice one of many. If you are already a member of ARFF, consider making an additional donation to help us continue our fish-friendly education.
	To learn more about fishing, ARFF recommends the following link: www.FishingHurts.com