Peta Hooks Its Concern On Fish Cruelty

Members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals apparently have concluded they won’t succeed in banning all fishing by targeting state agencies. They’ve changed tactics.

They’re going to chip away at Americans’ rights to fish. Now, they’re trying to force the National Park Service to ban fishing in the national parks.

So far, they’ve been brushed off by the agency.

They’re focusing their campaign in the West, with emphasis on Yellowstone National Park, the Wildlife Legislative Fund of America says.

PETA has launched a letter-writing campaign to park superintendents. Its members and supporters are being asked to demand that parks ban fishing.

The federal agency has responded, saying: “Recreational fishing is a recognized part of the heritage of national parks; since the beginning of the national park system fishing has generally been, and will continue to be, permitted as one way to enjoy aquatic resources.”

If you think PETA will give up its fight to end fishing in America, you haven’t been following its actions the last few years. Although it has only won a few skirmishes in its war against hunting, it keeps recruiting more people, primarily city folk who know little about hunting and the reasons why it’s good for wildlife, to its causes.

One of PETA’s contentions is that anglers who catch and release fish inflict pain on the fish. The group wants catchand-release fishing banned.

PETA members assume that fish feel pain the same way humans do. Fishermen don’t know whether fish suffer pain when they’re hooked. There’s no way for anglers to determine whether hooks inflict pain. Fish, unlike such animals as rabbits, dogs and bears, don’t scream or howl.

Hilary W. Thompson, assistant professor of ophthalmology, biometry and neuroscience at the Louisiana Sate University Medical Center, says in the current issue of Flyfishing, a publication of the Federation of Fly Fishers, that “fish do not suffer as humans do.”

He agrees that hooks may hurt fish, but only during the brief period the hook is in its flesh.

“As soon as the actual pain stimulus stops they go back to the business of feeding or schooling or nesting or ignoring flies.” he says.

PETA may or may not realize that the angler who plays a fish until it rolls over on its side and hardly wiggles and then holds it out of the water for up to 3 or 4 minutes does more harm to the fish than the hook.

Unfortunately, some fish that are hooked and released eventually die. Numerous anglers, including both fly and spin fishermen, hold fish out of water to admire or to have a friend take a picture.

Studies have revealed that the mortality rate of trout kept out of water for more than a minute is high.

I’ve watched fly fishers play a trout for more than 5 minutes before netting it. Then, anxious to get back to fishing, they failed to hold the fish upright until it swam away.

However, more and more anglers are using quick release devices to release fish under water. Several such devices have been created. I’m never without a Runje Releaser, a simple device that enables an angler to release a hooked fish quickly.

The releaser was devised by Mike Runje of Spokane, one of the area’s best-known and talented fly fishers.

When the fishing was hot at Fourth of July Lake last March, I often released more than 20 trout a day without ever taking the fish out of the water.

I suspect that fewer and fewer anglers are playing fish overly long and keeping fish out of the water more than a minute. All the fly fishers I know lose no time putting a fish back into the water.

With PETA always looking for ammunition for their war on fishers, all fishers must become aware of what they do to a fish when they keep it out of the water for a long time. PETA almost certainly will condemn such practices and allege that many anglers, perhaps the majority, will kill most of the fish they hook because of their actions.

PETA is more apt to succeed in banning or restricting hunting than fishing. There are indications that a fairly large percentage of Americans, mainly those who live in cities, will not support hunters in the coming battles.

On the other hand, polls indicate that most Americans still believe fishing is a good way to spend one’s time. PETA may never convince them the sport should be banned because fishermen hurt fish.

Certainly, PETA will never persuade Americans to stop eating fish.