CLOSE UP ON ANGLING
 A
cruel sport
There are three types of angling
- coarse, sea and game. Coarse angling is by far the most popular
and probably the most cruel.
Most types of freshwater fish (ie. from rivers, streams and ponds) are hunted
by coarse anglers, the exceptions being salmon, trout and grayling. Their target
species include pike, roach, perch, rudd, dace, bleak, bream, tench, barbel,
carp and chub. Most are inedible.
As well as a rod, line and hook, coarse anglers have to buy a licence to enable
them to fish. Where a lake, river, canal or reservoir is privately owned, a
day or season ticket is required.
Maggots are the most common bait and are impaled live onto the hook. Earthworms,
mealworms and bloodworms are used in the same way. Sometimes livebait is applied
- small live fish, usually impaled on treble hooks to attract predatory fish.
A close season runs from 15 March to 15 June, although regulations vary in
different regions of the country. The close season is supposed to be a time
to allow fish respite during their spawning season, though it has been scrapped
on all still waters (ponds, lakes and reservoirs) since 1995.
The most common argument used to defend angling is that fish don't feel pain.
This is untrue. Fish are vertebrates, with a brain, a central nervous system
and pain receptors all over their bodies, including the lips. As with mammals,
it is a biological necessity to feel pain and without this capacity they would
not survive. Scientific research from around the world substantiates this.
In a 1996 report examining the welfare of farmed fish, the Ministry of Agriculture's
official advisory body, the Farm Animal Welfare Council, noted that:
'Almost all fish live the whole of their lives in water
and show a maximal emergency response when removed from water, even for a
very short period. This response includes changes in heart rate, increased
production of adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol and vigorous muscle contractions
... All of the scientific evidence concerning such effects makes it clear
that the term stress is certainly relevant to fish and that the means by which
stress effects are mediated are very similar to those in mammals. Evidence
that the term pain is applicable to fish comes from anatomical, physiological
and behavioural studies whose results are very similar to those of studies
on birds and mammals. The fact that fish are cold blooded does not prevent
them from having a pain system and, indeed, such a system is valuable in preserving
life and maximising the biological fitness of individuals.' Farm Animal
Welfare Council Report on the Welfare of Farmed Fish, September 1996.
Fish are caught with either a barbed or barbless hook. Barbed hooks cause more
damage and are now banned at an increasing number of fisheries, but barbless
hooks also cause lacerating injuries. Hooked fish will struggle out of fear
and physical pain. They are then dragged out of the water into an alien environment
in which they start to suffocate, just as we would if we were pulled under water.
Their gills - similar to our lungs - collapse and may bleed. The swim bladder
can rupture due to the sudden change in pressure on their bodies. Breathing
is virtually impossible.
The fish is then handled. Even with wet hands, as recommended by anglers, this
handling removes the invisible outer mucus layer which provides waterproofing.
Fish are consequently left open to infection if/when eventually returned to
water. Time out of water is prolonged by those who want their photograph taken
with their catch in the hope of getting a picture in an angling magazine.
If injured and traumatised fish survive the ordeal of being caught they may
still die later through stress, or be so weakened that they are easy prey for
predators.
Anglers present themselves as custodians of the countryside. They claim to
be conservationists without whom there would be no fish. Yet those anglers who
monitor waterways, clean up fisheries or take polluters to court are greatly
outnumbered by those who treat their environment with contempt. Hooks and nylon
line is lost or discarded, with deadly consequences for wildlife. Litter is
left behind, including jagged bait cans. Maggots contaminated with salmonella
and botulism have proved fatal to wildfowl. Trampling of vegetation often turns
banks into mudslides, while the excessive amount of bait which is catapulted
into the water can rot and pollute.
Each year more waterside birds and mammals die because of discarded monofilament
than the total number of swans ever killed by lead poisoning.
For more information visit the Campaign for the Abolition
of Angling's website at www.anti-angling.com.
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