Go Fish?!

In the first article it states that fish have pain receptors just like us meaning they feel it when we pick them up out of the sea with hooks. Dr. Lynne Sneddon studied this by placing different types of stimuli in the heads of fish and studying their neural activity. Dr Sneddon said, "we found 58 receptors located on the face and head of the trout that responded to at least one of the stimuli.” These receptors are like the ones of mammals, amphibians, and humans.

This second article discusses the excessive pain that fish go through because of fishing. Through the first article we now know that this pain is real for fish. Drawing the attention of the fish with bait it grabs it and the hook is pierced into the mouth of the fish. The fish is pulled up by this hook feeling excruciating pain. One bait that is used is live bait. Small fish are used to attract other larger fish. This is how it is done: "The needle is passed through the front of the eye socket of both eyes. The material is then pulled through so that the hook sits on the head of the baitfish." Just reading this sounds painful, imagine going through this. Once a fish is caught the pain doesn't end there. They begin to suffocate because of the lack of water gasping for oxygen. People usually don't feel the same sympathy when hearing about fish cruelty compared to the cruelty to dogs or cats especially because it is so difficult to see if a fish is feeling pain but it is still the same. Fish have nerve endings like mammals and the same chemicals that transmit and block pain we have to believe that fish also fear and feel pain.

In my opinion, fishing is not wrong but there should be a limit. There shouldn't be overfishing or fishing that is just for fun and not used for food. To decrease the cruelty to fish live bait should not be used and the fish should be instantly killed once caught instead of letting them suffocate.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2983045.stm

http://www.animal-lib.org.au/lists/fish/fish.shtml