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How can practice of catch-and-release be harmful to the fish?
By Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 17, 2003
With a pro bass fisherman like Dennis Kolender pulls in a lunker, the fish is freed to swim another day. ED ZIERALSKI / Union-Tribune
In the early 1970s, fly fisherman Lee Wulff and bass fisherman Ray Scott started something that changed the way America fished.
Wulff fooled an Atlantic salmon with a fly and felt the fish was much too precious a gift to be caught only once. He released it.
Scott, founder of the Bass Anglers Sportsman's Society, or B.A.S.S., in 1968, knew the sight of dead largemouth bass at weigh-ins was a public relations nightmare at cash-for-bass tournaments.
Not only that, but catch-and-kill bass tournaments would eventually ruin the nation's bass fisheries. He started catch-and-release bass tournaments in 1972 and created a national phenomenon.
Catch-and-release fishing was practiced by many before these two made it fashionable.
Pearl Zane Grey and Charles Fredrick Holder are said to be the fathers of catch-and-release fishing in saltwater for big game fish. Roderick L. Haig-Brown is considered the originator of the catch-and-release ethic in freshwater fishing.
But in the modern era, Wulff and Scott are credited with being the loudest advocates of releasing catches, their voices echoing throughout the fishing world into the 21st century.
Thus, what once was a battle between fly-fishing elitists and conventional gear fishermen has become a crusade for both.
Since then, the catch-and-release ethic has spread to saltwater bays and even the ocean, where long-range fishermen, once known as purely "meat fishermen" or "trophy hunters," now cut loose 100-pound-plus yellowfin tuna because they're looking for a 200-pounder or better.
That's how far fishing has come, but apparently, it's not far enough for some.
Animal rights groups pound out messages daily about the cruelty of catch-and-release fishing. Some of them don't mind fishing and killing a fish for dinner, but playing a fish for sport and then letting it go is torture, sadistic, they're saying.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals attacked the Boy Scouts a few years ago for their fishing merit badge. PETA placed billboards showing dogs getting hooked and dragged, asking passersby, "If you wouldn't do this to your dog, why do it to a fish?"
It's a well-funded, well-organized campaign, this international crusade against fishing.
They're after what they call "America's lip-rippers," and their goal is to put an end to the pastime.
Now, The Boston Globe has joined the fray. It recently ran an editorial (that was printed in the Union-Tribune) announcing that catch-and-release fishing, or fishing for sport and not the grill or the frying pan, is cruel and inhumane.
Some of the latest attacks on fishing can be traced to a New York Times News Service story that cites a scientific report from Britain's Royal Society, an independent scientific research body. Scientists there contend they have established the existence of "nervous system receptors" in the heads of fish that respond to "damaging stimuli."
In this case, the "damaging stimuli" was bee venom and acetic acid, which was injected into the lips of captive rainbow trout. The report states that the trout, after the injections, displayed "profound behavioral and physiological changes comparable to those observed in higher mammals."
"Fish can perceive pain," the study claims.
The question is, what living creature wouldn't be affected by an injection of bee venom and acetic acid? Certainly even a worm would squirm from such chemical abuse.
This new research strikes against a study done by professor James Rose of the University of Wyoming that a fish's brain is incapable of feeling pain.
"In order to show that a fish or any organism experiences pain, it is necessary to show that a fish has consciousness," Rose told The New York Times. "Without consciousness, there is no pain."
That same piece in The New York Times also quotes Bruno Broughton, a scientific adviser to the pro-fishing lobby, who said, "In our brains there's a neocortex. That's the part of our brain that is associated with pain and fear. Fish don't have that. So if fish are feeling pain, how are they feeling it? With which organ?"
The argument of whether fish feel pain is one that will go on as long as money pours into the many animal rights groups.
But the notion that catch-and-release fishing is cruel and inhumane and not a necessary equation of the sport, of its management practices, doesn't compute statistically.
Overfishing is a huge problem in freshwater and saltwater. Catch-and-release has gone a long way toward saving fishing from itself, and it will continue to do so.
Look around the country. There's evidence everywhere of sound conservation, the use of catch-and-release with other management regulations, bringing fisheries back from overfishing or pollution.
The West Branch of the Ausable River in upstate New York has come back thanks to special regulations that included catch-and-release.
Locally, bass fishermen have become the stewards of one of the best bass fisheries in the country. Last year at Barrett Lake, a zero-kill, barbless-hook-only fishery, 3,655 fishermen reported catching and releasing 30,142 largemouth bass.
"Catch-and-release fishing probably has been one of the single biggest positive impacts on fishing here, second only to the arrival of Florida bass," said Jim Brown, program manager for the San Diego City Lakes.
Brown said the only negative is that some catch-and-release anglers have taken it too far. There have been incidents in which the catch-and-release anglers clashed with catch-and-grill fishermen.
"I think it's gotten out of hand when people who favor catch-and-release fishing become zealots and pass judgment on others who are fishing and observing laws and limits, but keeping fish," Brown said. "If they're staying within the laws and limits, people shouldn't go up to them and insult them for keeping fish."
City lakes fisheries biologist Larry Bottroff, who has been studying bass at the city lakes since 1968 and chronicling the populations, catch rates and growth of the fish, remembers that the first catch-and-release tournament was held in 1971 by the Pisces Bass Club. Today, 75 to 85 percent of bass fishermen practice catch-and-release at the city lakes.
But it's not just here. It's nationwide, thanks to the calls for catch-and-release from people such as Lee Wulff and Ray Scott. And now that mantra is helping keep the tradition of fishing for sport alive and well.
=================================================
Catch-and-release tips
Use a single barbless hook.
Don't play the fish longer than necessary. The longer the fish fights or is kept out of the water, the less chance it has to recover.
If possible, keep the fish in the water and unhook it.
Be as gentle as you can with the fish and wet your hands before handling it. Don't poke your fingers in its gills. Don't squeeze the fish. Handle toothless fish by gripping their lower jaw. Grab a toothed fish behind the gill covers.
Use long-nose pliers to get the hook out.
Don't attempt to remove the hook if it's lodged in the gullet or throat. Don't jerk or pull the line to remove the hook. Cut the line and release the fish.
Don't put the fish on a stringer if you plan on releasing it. A live-well or ice chest filled with water and a little ice is better for holding fish temporarily. Pro bass fishermen use Rejuvenade from BassMedics, a division of Outdoor Specialty Products. Pros such as Dennis Kolender, Bobo Dalton and Guy Eaker swear by it. "It's like giving them steroids before releasing them," Eaker said. Call (256) 638-2277 for information or visit www.bassmedics.com.
If the fish looks lethargic, hold it in the water upright and move it forward and backward so that water passes through its gills. Wait for this form of artificial respiration to take effect. You'll know the fish has revived when it begins trying to get away. As Trout Unlimited says: "Release it to survive and challenge another fisherman. You have done your job well."
– ED ZIERALSKI
By Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 17, 2003
With a pro bass fisherman like Dennis Kolender pulls in a lunker, the fish is freed to swim another day. ED ZIERALSKI / Union-Tribune
In the early 1970s, fly fisherman Lee Wulff and bass fisherman Ray Scott started something that changed the way America fished.
Wulff fooled an Atlantic salmon with a fly and felt the fish was much too precious a gift to be caught only once. He released it.
Scott, founder of the Bass Anglers Sportsman's Society, or B.A.S.S., in 1968, knew the sight of dead largemouth bass at weigh-ins was a public relations nightmare at cash-for-bass tournaments.
Not only that, but catch-and-kill bass tournaments would eventually ruin the nation's bass fisheries. He started catch-and-release bass tournaments in 1972 and created a national phenomenon.
Catch-and-release fishing was practiced by many before these two made it fashionable.
Pearl Zane Grey and Charles Fredrick Holder are said to be the fathers of catch-and-release fishing in saltwater for big game fish. Roderick L. Haig-Brown is considered the originator of the catch-and-release ethic in freshwater fishing.
But in the modern era, Wulff and Scott are credited with being the loudest advocates of releasing catches, their voices echoing throughout the fishing world into the 21st century.
Thus, what once was a battle between fly-fishing elitists and conventional gear fishermen has become a crusade for both.
Since then, the catch-and-release ethic has spread to saltwater bays and even the ocean, where long-range fishermen, once known as purely "meat fishermen" or "trophy hunters," now cut loose 100-pound-plus yellowfin tuna because they're looking for a 200-pounder or better.
That's how far fishing has come, but apparently, it's not far enough for some.
Animal rights groups pound out messages daily about the cruelty of catch-and-release fishing. Some of them don't mind fishing and killing a fish for dinner, but playing a fish for sport and then letting it go is torture, sadistic, they're saying.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals attacked the Boy Scouts a few years ago for their fishing merit badge. PETA placed billboards showing dogs getting hooked and dragged, asking passersby, "If you wouldn't do this to your dog, why do it to a fish?"
It's a well-funded, well-organized campaign, this international crusade against fishing.
They're after what they call "America's lip-rippers," and their goal is to put an end to the pastime.
Now, The Boston Globe has joined the fray. It recently ran an editorial (that was printed in the Union-Tribune) announcing that catch-and-release fishing, or fishing for sport and not the grill or the frying pan, is cruel and inhumane.
Some of the latest attacks on fishing can be traced to a New York Times News Service story that cites a scientific report from Britain's Royal Society, an independent scientific research body. Scientists there contend they have established the existence of "nervous system receptors" in the heads of fish that respond to "damaging stimuli."
In this case, the "damaging stimuli" was bee venom and acetic acid, which was injected into the lips of captive rainbow trout. The report states that the trout, after the injections, displayed "profound behavioral and physiological changes comparable to those observed in higher mammals."
"Fish can perceive pain," the study claims.
The question is, what living creature wouldn't be affected by an injection of bee venom and acetic acid? Certainly even a worm would squirm from such chemical abuse.
This new research strikes against a study done by professor James Rose of the University of Wyoming that a fish's brain is incapable of feeling pain.
"In order to show that a fish or any organism experiences pain, it is necessary to show that a fish has consciousness," Rose told The New York Times. "Without consciousness, there is no pain."
That same piece in The New York Times also quotes Bruno Broughton, a scientific adviser to the pro-fishing lobby, who said, "In our brains there's a neocortex. That's the part of our brain that is associated with pain and fear. Fish don't have that. So if fish are feeling pain, how are they feeling it? With which organ?"
The argument of whether fish feel pain is one that will go on as long as money pours into the many animal rights groups.
But the notion that catch-and-release fishing is cruel and inhumane and not a necessary equation of the sport, of its management practices, doesn't compute statistically.
Overfishing is a huge problem in freshwater and saltwater. Catch-and-release has gone a long way toward saving fishing from itself, and it will continue to do so.
Look around the country. There's evidence everywhere of sound conservation, the use of catch-and-release with other management regulations, bringing fisheries back from overfishing or pollution.
The West Branch of the Ausable River in upstate New York has come back thanks to special regulations that included catch-and-release.
Locally, bass fishermen have become the stewards of one of the best bass fisheries in the country. Last year at Barrett Lake, a zero-kill, barbless-hook-only fishery, 3,655 fishermen reported catching and releasing 30,142 largemouth bass.
"Catch-and-release fishing probably has been one of the single biggest positive impacts on fishing here, second only to the arrival of Florida bass," said Jim Brown, program manager for the San Diego City Lakes.
Brown said the only negative is that some catch-and-release anglers have taken it too far. There have been incidents in which the catch-and-release anglers clashed with catch-and-grill fishermen.
"I think it's gotten out of hand when people who favor catch-and-release fishing become zealots and pass judgment on others who are fishing and observing laws and limits, but keeping fish," Brown said. "If they're staying within the laws and limits, people shouldn't go up to them and insult them for keeping fish."
City lakes fisheries biologist Larry Bottroff, who has been studying bass at the city lakes since 1968 and chronicling the populations, catch rates and growth of the fish, remembers that the first catch-and-release tournament was held in 1971 by the Pisces Bass Club. Today, 75 to 85 percent of bass fishermen practice catch-and-release at the city lakes.
But it's not just here. It's nationwide, thanks to the calls for catch-and-release from people such as Lee Wulff and Ray Scott. And now that mantra is helping keep the tradition of fishing for sport alive and well.
=================================================
Catch-and-release tips
Use a single barbless hook.
Don't play the fish longer than necessary. The longer the fish fights or is kept out of the water, the less chance it has to recover.
If possible, keep the fish in the water and unhook it.
Be as gentle as you can with the fish and wet your hands before handling it. Don't poke your fingers in its gills. Don't squeeze the fish. Handle toothless fish by gripping their lower jaw. Grab a toothed fish behind the gill covers.
Use long-nose pliers to get the hook out.
Don't attempt to remove the hook if it's lodged in the gullet or throat. Don't jerk or pull the line to remove the hook. Cut the line and release the fish.
Don't put the fish on a stringer if you plan on releasing it. A live-well or ice chest filled with water and a little ice is better for holding fish temporarily. Pro bass fishermen use Rejuvenade from BassMedics, a division of Outdoor Specialty Products. Pros such as Dennis Kolender, Bobo Dalton and Guy Eaker swear by it. "It's like giving them steroids before releasing them," Eaker said. Call (256) 638-2277 for information or visit www.bassmedics.com.
If the fish looks lethargic, hold it in the water upright and move it forward and backward so that water passes through its gills. Wait for this form of artificial respiration to take effect. You'll know the fish has revived when it begins trying to get away. As Trout Unlimited says: "Release it to survive and challenge another fisherman. You have done your job well."
– ED ZIERALSKI
