Hello...Again...Just a small question

[leedsunited]

What do you guys say when people who are completely against fishing tell you that fishing is a awful sport and that we do more harm than good to the fish

 

Thanks

[Dick Dastardly]

Normally "F--k off"! Seriously though some people you can discuss it with in a sensible way and even if you cant "convert" them they will at least leave you remembering you as polite and confirmed in your beliefs.Others you will be wasting your time as their own grasp of the facts is so tenuous that you will not be able to argue logicaly with them,a bit like some fellow anglers realy!

[Tog]

If they are 'vegan' or 'veggie' ask them to explain why a slug is somehow 'better' than an oak tree!

If they arn't either tell them to stop being hypocrital! (most food production is far 'crueler').

Any angler knows without us the rivers would have been no more than sewers long ago.

[Stewart_Bloor]

In no small way, we are all ambassadors for the sport and need to take every opportunity we can to promote angling in a positive light.

 

Sometimes we get a major platform. For example a year ago I was contacted by Radio 4 who wanted to do an interview with me whilst fishing the River Teme for barbel. (They wanted to do it prior to June 16 and didn't even know about the close season funnily enough )

 

I had a great opportunity, while being interviewed on the bank, to discuss the positive aspect of angling. Even something small, such as when I was asked 'do you throw them back?' gave me the chance to reply about fish welfare and how we gently return them to the river.

 

On the other hand, we all have opportunities regularly to talk about angling with people. The guy I deal with at the PO every day, when he first realised I was an angler, said 'I think fishing is cruel'

 

But after we talked about it for a while, he changed his mind. He had been misinformed in actual fact. But at least I had the chance to sow something positive. He had been influenced by some animal rights stuff.

[rob.i]

never had it said to me but Id probably say they have the right to their opinion and I mine, and if they mithered me some more, then Id tell them to go away .

 

[ 25. August 2004, 01:53 PM: Message edited by: rob.i ]

[Peter Waller]

There are far worse things than fishing, like football! The damage to the environment by football is horrifyingly immense. In comparison the damage by angling is rather less. Infact the minimal damage is far outweighed by the constructive points, both social and environmental.

[Pangolin]

Point out that if it weren't for angling clubs, many of our rivers and canals would be little more than open sewers, choked with algae and weed. People who fuss about fish suffering at the hands of anglers don't seem to protest about the way sea fish are caught for the table: trawled from the depths, so their swim-bladders are near bursting, then thrown (alive) into the hold to suffocate slowly...

[rob.i]

yes pete but f*** off gets right to the point

[lardvader]

Unfortunately most anti-anglers have practically no knowledge about angling beyond the thought of how they would feel with a hook in their mouth. You can't blame people themselves for their ignorance, nobody can have a researched informed opinion about everything. That's where we, as anglers, have to do our bit, in a calm and reasoned manner.

 

The animal activist people are a different matter entirely and there's simply no reasoning with them at all. Like most 'fanatics' they possess a almost religious like zest to their beliefs, even to the point of killing and injuring people to make their point (extreme cases I know)

My greatest fear is they will play on the general ignorance of the majority and get fishing banned, althought we are some way off from that stage. But sooner rather than later the full focus of this movement will concentrate on angling.

I do see a ban as a very hard thing to achieve but I'm not totally secure in my belief that it couldn't happen, and if it was conclusively proven that fishing caused immense and harmful distress to the fish I might have to reconsider myself.

[Pangolin]

Did you know that certain magazine-sellers won't stock any angling mags because of the public perception of angling as a cruel sport? I had this from both my local Tesco and Sainsbury supermarkets and also from an 'eight'till late'.