Is it ok to go fishing...

[John_Nicholson]

I see nothing wrong with it.......

-john

 

[RandomWiktor]

Fishing isnt all about killing the fish you catch. Here in England fishing is done more as a passtime or sport than to catch food and on most fisheries all the fish must be returned alive to the water immiedietly after capture (unless its a competition in which case they are held in a very long net for the duration of the match, usually 5 hours), barbless hooks must be used to keep any damage caused to the fishes mouths to a minimum and the ammount of bait each angler can use is limited to prevent pollution to the water. The fish have their health monitered by the staff at the fishery and are treated accordingly should there be any signs of disease, a far cry from the bloodthirsty image most people seem to have of fishing.

While this may be true of fisheries in England, I think what you have listed is more like a far cry from the state of fishing in the majority of the world. I know in the good 'ol USA, we aren't that concerned about fish welfare; in fact, they even "stock" ponds here with large, impressive specimins so people can make impressive catches and keep coming back with money. Its good for tourism. But, it isn't so good for all of the small native fish, or the amphibian life, which tend to get eaten by the bigger, introduced fish. Not to mention the occasional problem of the stocking causing an outbreak of parasitism or disease when introduced to a pond.
And, stocking, parsitism, and disease aside... well lets just say I haven't met too many macho all-american fishermen who would dare use a barbless hook or let a fish go (well, unless they caught something small and crappy); they seem to feel the need to "kill 'em and grill 'em," or at least have them mounted. Most of the hooks I've seen for sale out here are barbed, sometimes VERY barbed, unless it is a mom and kids fishing. In fact, I sometimes feed sunnies at my grandpa's cabin (on a lake), and it is very common to see them with missing eyes, torn lips, and punctures in thier faces from being hooked with a barbed hook and thrown back.
And, when you look into ocean fishing, it gets even worse. Not only is impaling smaller fish and eels on a hook to catch larger fish common practice, but many of the animals break the line and escape with a pretty brutal hook in thier mouth, only to die later of infection or starvation from the injury. It really is unpleasant stuff; I used to go with my grandfather.
The other problem with fishing out in the sea is recreational shark fishing, which paired with finning, catching for meat, and persecution has put many shark specious in serious jeopardy. Sharks mature slow, breed slow, and frankly don't replenish nicely.

However, I think commercial fishing for FOOD does a whole lot more damage to fish than sport fishing does. Sport fishing may bring a lot of small losses, and occasionally damage a pond by stocking, but it is the industrial fishing going on in our oceans and rivers that is really a problem. Most of our schools are dangerously depleted. Other non-target species are entangled in nets. And the "farming" of some popular fish species has both caused instances of disease spread to wild populations, and resulted in plenty of wildlife kills. There was one hatchery owner who was jailed for shooting endagered herons and other wildlife because they were eating fish out of the man-made ponds the company bred (I need to go look up the species) in. Apparently, there was a whole mess of dead wildlife all around the property. Troubling stuff.

I'm not trying to say "umgz you're a hypocrite and you're evil if you eat fish or go fishing!!!" What I am saying is, there are aspects of the fishing industry that can be very damaging to wild populations, and it is good to know about these practices so you can avoid them, by either fishing at special fishing ponds as CFC noted, or by avoiding certain seafoods. There is actually a pamphlet put out by the AZA that has a convenient chart of what seafoods should be avoided due to either overfishing, or deterimental farming/catching methods. It goes on a system of red to green, with green being foods that are a-ok for eating, yellow being a little shifty but not terrible, and red being foods you should simply never eat because they are so severely damaging fish populations. Its pretty cool; I should put a link up later.

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

but it is the industrial fishing going on in our oceans and rivers that is really a problem. Most of our schools are dangerously depleted. Other non-target species are entangled in nets.

Also, if you look at trolling nets, which are 18 miles wide, they are dragged along the floor of the ocean and they tear up the ocean floor, which means every single species in that habitat is effected because your destroying even the primary food sources and even the non-living parts of the habitat.

 

[Fishist]

Wow... I never expected such a debate. Individual perspectives like these make for good reading.

Oh, and just to clarify, I fish privately for fun on a friends boat. We sometimes catch loads of fish but only bring back a couple for the BBQ.... the rest we put back.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Does it make me a hypocrite if I don't have a dog but eat one?

I'm sorry, but, ah, given a chance, there are plenty of things that would eat us, fish included. I just read a story about a two year old who gotten eaten in South America by a giant catfish. Luckily the villagers caught the fish, cut it open and saved the kid. I see nothing wrong with eating meat.

It has a lot to do by the way you were raised as well. Me, I am an animal nut. Just ask my mom, especially after I've mentioned how cute that puppy in the window is.... but, I was also raised with the idea of a natural cycle. Thus, somewhere down the line I too will enter the great food chain (no poo jokes South Park fans ) I'm not exactly hoping it will be by grizzly or giant grouper, but hey, it could happen. I respect them, I eat them, I protect them. No black and white.

Personally, if I was somewhere where they were serving guinea pig, dog, cat, oscar or horse, yeah, I just might have a bite. Equality to all. Hell, maybe more people should eat oscar, might give all those newbies who buy them for their ten gallon tanks something to do with them....

 

[RandomWiktor]

Actually, horse is readily eaten in many countries, and many of them are slaughtered in the US. So horse meat isn't too far fetched. We feed horse to the large predators at the zoo; it tends to be leaner than beef, and not as pumped up with steroids and antibiotics.

 

[CFC]

Does it make me a hypocrite if I don't have a dog but eat one?

I'm sorry, but, ah, given a chance, there are plenty of things that would eat us, fish included. I just read a story about a two year old who gotten eaten in South America by a giant catfish. Luckily the villagers caught the fish, cut it open and saved the kid. I see nothing wrong with eating meat.

It has a lot to do by the way you were raised as well. Me, I am an animal nut. Just ask my mom, especially after I've mentioned how cute that puppy in the window is.... but, I was also raised with the idea of a natural cycle. Thus, somewhere down the line I too will enter the great food chain (no poo jokes South Park fans ) I'm not exactly hoping it will be by grizzly or giant grouper, but hey, it could happen. I respect them, I eat them, I protect them. No black and white.

Personally, if I was somewhere where they were serving guinea pig, dog, cat, oscar or horse, yeah, I just might have a bite. Equality to all. Hell, maybe more people should eat oscar, might give all those newbies who buy them for their ten gallon tanks something to do with them....

[snapback]914300[/snapback]​

If the kid had gone down a catfishes throat there would be nothing left to save, catfish possess a set of teeth in the throat known as the pahrnegal mill which as the name would suggest is two plates of razor sharp teeth which work together to reduce anything the fish swallows into a mushy pulp before it reaches the stomach. A kid may well have got eaten, but the rescuing part is almost certainly an urban myth.

 

[spanishguy111]

I returned from a deep sea fishing trip off the S. California coast at the weekend with my prize catch, 29lb Albacore filleted and ready for the BBQ. As I walked in to the house I passed my fish tank and said hello to my fish..... and then it dawned on me. Is it odd to have one hobby where I love and tend to fish and then another where I go and savagely pull fish from their home and then grill them?

Anyone else have this twisted combination of hobbies?

[snapback]912843[/snapback]​

I think you have to make your own decisions, but to me it is a moral afront. I have a dog and a cat- but I dont eat dog or cat. I have snails. But I dont eat snails. My family is spanish and eat Rabbit, but I used to have a Rabbit when I was a toddler. I don't eat Rabbit. I have fish. I don't eat fish (I used to) or other seafood. If I eat lobster I can just picture my poor crawfish being mashed around and boiled alive... its just crappy.

Your call though

 

[spanishguy111]

Does it make me a hypocrite if I don't have a dog but eat one?

I'm sorry, but, ah, given a chance, there are plenty of things that would eat us, fish included. I just read a story about a two year old who gotten eaten in South America by a giant catfish. Luckily the villagers caught the fish, cut it open and saved the kid. I see nothing wrong with eating meat.

It has a lot to do by the way you were raised as well. Me, I am an animal nut. Just ask my mom, especially after I've mentioned how cute that puppy in the window is.... but, I was also raised with the idea of a natural cycle. Thus, somewhere down the line I too will enter the great food chain (no poo jokes South Park fans ) I'm not exactly hoping it will be by grizzly or giant grouper, but hey, it could happen. I respect them, I eat them, I protect them. No black and white.

Personally, if I was somewhere where they were serving guinea pig, dog, cat, oscar or horse, yeah, I just might have a bite. Equality to all. Hell, maybe more people should eat oscar, might give all those newbies who buy them for their ten gallon tanks something to do with them....

[snapback]914300[/snapback]​

If the kid had gone down a catfishes throat there would be nothing left to save, catfish possess a set of teeth in the throat known as the pahrnegal mill which as the name would suggest is two plates of razor sharp teeth which work together to reduce anything the fish swallows into a mushy pulp before it reaches the stomach. A kid may well have got eaten, but the rescuing part is almost certainly an urban myth.

[snapback]914393[/snapback]​

If the kid got stuck half way down before the pahrnegal though, its possible that they could have saved him and only cut open the top half of the fish... still sounds fishy

 

[Synirr]

i say it is hypocritical to have pets and eat meat because there is no difference among animals. why love one and love to eat another? in vietnam, dogs are a popular main course, in south america, it's guinea pigs. in india, it's mad to eat a cow. do these ideals hold with you? probably not. but why? why not eat a dog instead of a cow? it would probably be better for you. less sat fat perhaps?

[snapback]913644[/snapback]​

I'd totally eat dog meat. I'll try anything once. I don't have a problem with eating any particular type of animal, because as you said, there's no difference among them... like I mentioned earlier, I just wouldn't eat anyone I know personality .

 

[chishnfips]

Natrually though humans are carniverous, so why does eating meat suprise so many people?

You just need to watch a nature program to see how cruel nature can be, I think that it seems more cruel because humans have the ability to choose what they eat.

Lets face it you aren't going to start chopping up your pet fish into sushi but you can still eat fish or go fishing.

 

[John_Nicholson]

Most people now days are very far removed from the production of food. They think it comes from the store....LOL. They have been misguided by fiction movies and books for their entire lives. It does not surprise me that some people don't eat meat. I have no problem with that....it just leaves more for me.....

-john

P.S. I do have a problem though with people that look down on someone for eating meat. I won't push a steak on you and you don't push those damned carrots on me.....

 

[RandomWiktor]

Natrually though humans are carniverous, so why does eating meat suprise so many people

I'm sorry, I just have to make a note of how misinformed that statement is. Humans are not carnivores; they are omnivores, on the low end of the spectrum for dietary meat requirement (ie. domesticated dogs and foxes are also omnivores, but require much more meat, fat protien, etc. in thier diets than humans). So, while we are intended to have some animal products in our diet, we are not carnivores by a long shot. In fact, humans would pretty much die on a strictly meat, no vegetation diet; it would lead to terrible deficiencies, the death of intestinal flora, high cholesterol, etc. And PLEASE do not use atkins to argue that; atkins is not supposed to be used as a long term diet; you can go into ketosis and develop severe GI problems if you try to stay on it for longer than the weight loss period.

Ever notice how in most vegitarianism debates, half of the people insist that humans need a big bloody steak 3 times a day to be healthy, and the other half insist that if you have a chicken nugget, you'll die? That bothers the CRAP out of me. I am a vegan because I am priveledged enough to choose to be one, but I am not going to deny our biology and say that the human animal was not origionally intended to eat eggs, insects, small mammals, and fish. We can survive without it thanks to today's technology, but unless all of you other vegans out there have a rhuemen and no upper teeth, I have a funny feeling that you should just admit that humans are an omnivorous animal.

[/offtopicness]

 

[Fella]

I don't know why anyone even cares what anyone else eats.



As for the actual topic, when I used to go fishing, it was because I used to enjoy seeing all the different kinds of fish. I could post a picture of me with my prize salmon here, but, it'd stretch the page.

 

[chishnfips]

Natrually though humans are carniverous, so why does eating meat suprise so many people

I'm sorry, I just have to make a note of how misinformed that statement is. Humans are not carnivores; they are omnivores, on the low end of the spectrum for dietary meat requirement (ie. domesticated dogs and foxes are also omnivores, but require much more meat, fat protien, etc. in thier diets than humans). So, while we are intended to have some animal products in our diet, we are not carnivores by a long shot. In fact, humans would pretty much die on a strictly meat, no vegetation diet; it would lead to terrible deficiencies, the death of intestinal flora, high cholesterol, etc. And PLEASE do not use atkins to argue that; atkins is not supposed to be used as a long term diet; you can go into ketosis and develop severe GI problems if you try to stay on it for longer than the weight loss period.

Ever notice how in most vegitarianism debates, half of the people insist that humans need a big bloody steak 3 times a day to be healthy, and the other half insist that if you have a chicken nugget, you'll die? That bothers the CRAP out of me. I am a vegan because I am priveledged enough to choose to be one, but I am not going to deny our biology and say that the human animal was not origionally intended to eat eggs, insects, small mammals, and fish. We can survive without it thanks to today's technology, but unless all of you other vegans out there have a rhuemen and no upper teeth, I have a funny feeling that you should just admit that humans are an omnivorous animal.

[/offtopicness]

[snapback]914836[/snapback]​

Whats the difference, I said carniverous which they are, I didn't say through and through carnivores. We have eyes on the front of our head like most predators.
What I was getting at was that naturally we eat meat. But if you want to pick holes then yes we are omnivores.

and Fella I totally agree with you.