Catch-and-Release: It's Not a Humane Alternative
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Animal Rights Coalition (ARC)
May 2014

Handling fish removes their protective scale coating and makes them vulnerable to disease. Researchers at the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation found that as many as 43 percent of fish released after being caught died within six days.

Fishing is a popular activity for many, and it is perceived as fun and harmless, especially when catch-and-release is practiced. But catch-and-release is not a humane alternative.

Yanking a fish out of the water is equivalent to depriving a human of air; a fish will slowly suffocate outside of the water.

Dr. Culum Brown of Macquairie University says, "The stress that fish experience when they are pulled from the water into an environment in which they cannot breathe is exactly the same as a person drowning." Michael Stoskopf, Professor of Aquatics, Wildlife, and Zoologic Medicine at North Carolina University says, "It would be an unjustified error to assume that fish do not feel pain in these situations merely because their responses do not match those traditionally seen in mammals subjected to chronic pain."

Handling fish removes their protective scale coating and makes them vulnerable to disease. Researchers at the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation found that as many as 43 percent of fish released after being caught died within six days.

For an excellent article about the ethical and environmental impacts of wild caught and farmed fishing, see Animal Aid UK's report Dark Waters (PDF).

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For more, visit FishFeel.org

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