🚀 go-pugleaf

"Malcolm" <Malcolm@malcsplace.com> wrote in message
news:5d11e488221e246b2ae26e464a8e1512@free.teranews.com...
> CLOSE UP ON ANGLING
> A cruel sport
> http://www.animalaid.org.uk


I look forward with relish to the shit (deservedly) that you will receive
regarding this posting.  You must be some kind of masochist to post  a
message on this newsgroup with such contentious content


>
> 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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> So, you dont like reasoned,
> well thought out, civil debate?
>
> I understand.
>
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