Do fish feel pain?

[Allan]

Allen, It's easier to condemn 'catch and release' than it is to defend it. If you look at it from a simply logical viewpoint, what we are doing is sticking a sharp hook into an animals mouth area. The hook is attached to a line that allows us to pull on the fish, causing it to struggle to survive. It can't 'know' it's going to be released. Whether or not the fish 'feels' pain or not, we are certainly placing it under duress and some kind of stress. Since some fish do not survive the experience, you can't say its a practice that is 'harmless' to the fish. Some could call it torture'. It is certainly a cruel thing to do. We don't even have the 'excuse' of food gathering to fall back on. We are doing this ONLY for our own enjoyment. If you did this to a cat or dog, or even a squirrel, you would be arrested. That being said, if it is a cruelty to this, in the grand scheme of life, if this is cruelest thing we do, then I'm okay with it. Humans do so many awful things that this is pretty minor in comparison.

Gee, where did I "condemn 'catch and release'" much less even mention it because I didn't! Said it before and (over the years this is an old topic. Most everyone has concurred) I'll say it again: Fishing is a 'Blood Sport' and fish will die. Do they feel the pain of a needle sharp hook? Not sure and don't care. Neither do probably 99% of the fly fishers here and the same percentage of fishermen world over, whether we fish for sport, sustenance, or a commercial livelihood. If we did, we wouldn't fish.

Allan

[Gigmaster]

Fish do not 'feel pain' like higher animals do. Their brains are not set up with that type of nervous system (fish are the most primitive form of vertebrates, and were the first to evolve). Other than appearance and a few minor adaptions, they have changed little since the Cambrian Period (530 million years ago). They are not even conscious, little more than organic robots, really. When they struggle on a line, they are merely reacting instinctively, rather than from any deliberate sensations. A fishes nervous system does not even contain any specialized pain receptor nerve cells, like many higher animals do.

Compared to what happens to fish in the wild, on a daily basis (being eaten, and digested alive, torn to pieces, or used as a host for parasites....), being stuck with a hook is pretty small potatoes.

[Buddy Sanders]

Allan. I was just giving an answer to your question about whether we 'care' or not about fish feeling pain. Didn't accuse you of anything. My apologies if I was misunderstood.

[Allan]

Buddy,

LOL - I misunderstand a lot of things - Just ask my wife, LOL.

Allan