Is sportfishing unethical?

[yvez9]

I love fishing

Where I usually fish for trout, they actually buy trout from a breeder and dump them in the lake. they are fed a few times a week in the summer and the water is crystal clear. we go arund with electric motors so the water is not polluted. I actually drank it straight from the lake. Pike and bass have also found there way in this lake and we somtimes catch a few.

I love eating fish, especially if i caught it myself and don't find it unethical to do so.

A man on a small farm might be raising milking cows, he'll still be eating beef though...

Please note, I would never eat a fish i keep in a tank (like an oscar or other large fish, although i read they were tasty )

 

[Ethos]

I love fishing! We used to have a Lund Tyee. e spend alot of great times on that boat...It had a deep "v" hull, so it created the perfect wake for water sports. We fished a ton too. My mom didn't like fishing, but she'd grab a book and talk with us.
We usually practiced catch and relese, but if we cought 3 or 4 bigger fish we'd keep em' for dinner the next night.
The worst thing is when you get the hook through their gill, and you have to either rip it out, or just leave it. I can remember this one fish I cought, that when we relesed it, it left in a trail of blood. That was bad.
But, living in the state with over 11,000 lakes, its hard to meet someone who hasen't ever been fishing. Even if its just been once or twice.

 

[UBigBobby]

No way. I love bassfishing. I live right next to the Niagara river and Lake Erie and there's some pretty good fishing here. Bass, Perch, Walleye, and even Sturgeon.

Its just like hunting. SOmething man has been doing for thousands of years. Used to be soley for food, now its a sport. Most fisherman throw their catch back with no lasting injuries, OR they keep them and eat them. Granted some fish will die with catch and release like if you catch a sunny on a big bass lure. The Hook is generally too big and will go through a gill or an eye. But that doesn't happen every time.

Being an aquarist gives me new respect for fish...but doesn't make fishing seem wrong.

Animal rights are great and all, but you have to draw the line somewhere. At some point you have to say, we're humans, we have the choice, we have the power, and there are some liberties we can take within reason. Fishing being one of them

 

[Teelie]

I wish I fished more often. I haven't in probably 10 years but it's one of my favorite though rare past times. My girlfriend's boss has a nice, large bayou (including a few gators) on private property I can fish on now without needing a license or having to compete with others to fish.

Keeping them for food or pets is not generally something I do. I'd probably eat them if it was easier to clean fish but instead I end up tossing them back in the water.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

- There is no shortage of fish in the shops! Why rip a living being from it's home when fresh fish is a short trip away?

- I'd hate to kill a healthy being... it's sad enough having to put a beloved pet to sleep when it is too sick to live happily.

[snapback]882828[/snapback]​

well, if you know a fish isnt healthy, would you eat it?


i go fishing all the time. black bass, striper, perch. cleaning them is gross though. every fish ive ever caught was eaten, except for the ones too small to keep.

check out my room.

thats about $10-15k worth of fishing rods, that tuna rod costed about $300 for a blank, around $20 for each guide, and about $300 for the reel, and a whole lot of time.

all of those lures are home made except for that green one and the 2 underneath it. if you open the oven, you will find 4 boxes full of lures

so even if it is unethical, im still going to be fishing, cause i dont want all that stuff being wasted.

 

[Teelie]

And my girlfriend complaints about my computer parts being expensive.

 

[Nospherith]

There were some very well thought responses that helped clarify this issue. Many of you said that fishing was an acceptable sport for the aquarist on the premise that 1) respect for the fish is maintained 2) one eats at least some of what they catch and 3) to satisfy an instinctual need (predation) 4) many fish are bred specifically to be caught and 5) most game fish are not kept in the aquarium.

It was also stated that it is an unethical sport for the aquarist, justifications being: 1) it would be wrong to purposely cause pain to the animal ourselves because we no longer need to fish for food; local markets already provide us with fish. 2) Society and science have developed to the point where the killing of healthy animals for food/nutrition can be kept at a minimum, therefore sportfishing is not necessary especially for aquarists.

Personally, I think one pays more respect to fish in general by observing the process of life to the dinner table oneself. To be unaware of the process of the fish giving its life for your food is unethical, especially for the aquarist and the more natural the means that you catch the fish (using bait that you catch yourself, homemade hooks ect) the better. However, this isn't to say that I disagree with those that think aquarists should know better. I support fisheries, aquaculture, and endemic stocking because fish populations can no longer sustain the growing need for this invaluable natural resource. So as long as people are not depleting the natural fish population and observing the standards listed above, then I think it wouldn't be unethical.

 

[mattbeau]

I would have to say it's perfectly fine

As much as i enjoy actually catching a fish,

I more enjoy the moment of peace and queit, drinking a beer, kicking back and drowning worms, If i actually bring worms (yes I have gone fishing without bait)

though I guess its a bit different than sport fishing, as I'm not as driven to catch a fish as for instance an angler or fly fisherman. I genreally eat what I catch unless its too small, in which case it goes back.

 

[IMCL85]

I think its acceptable in many ways. Fishing is fun

 

[Jules H-T]

Killing animals of any sort, for fun, is not my bag.

Unethical IMHO, but I don't dislike people who think the other way or anything.

 

[Francis]

not if you eat the fish.

 

[UBigBobby]

Killing animals of any sort, for fun, is not my bag.

Unethical IMHO, but I don't dislike people who think the other way or anything.

[snapback]883955[/snapback]​

You have to understand though, that most sane people don't go fishing to randomly kill fish for fun. If they go for food, then yes they go to kill, but they use what they kill and eat it. If they go just for fun and not food, you throw the fish back. Sure...its stressful for the fish, but the point isn't to kill them, and if the fisherman sets the hook right, the fish suffers no major lifethreatening damage