Eating Perch...or any other prized species.

[Bob Bradford]

Legally one would be quite within his/hers rights to catch (by legal means of course) a freshwater fish and dispatch it humanely for the pot, however I think it is the moral obligation of all true anglers nowadays to stop and think of the huge environmental implications of what constitutes a very selfish action in my view, One should consider all of the other pressures that exist on our natural fish stocks, Cormorants are an incredibly efficient and destructive predator that simply were not a problem 25 years ago, now they can empty a stretch of river or lake of young fish leaving only the larger specimens that a human would take for the pot! it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the implications of this, also more and more of our native species are affected by the human birth control pill! or to be more accurate our processed sewerage is being emptied into natural waterways, estrogen is not being stripped however and there is scientific proof that male fish are either changing sex or becoming infertile, then there is water abstraction, pollution (other than the one I have already mentioned etc etc... so the bottom line is this....

 

How can an angler and conservationist take ANY natural fish stock to eat without considering it an act of vandalism, when all things are considered?

[singy]

How can an angler and conservationist take ANY natural fish stock to eat without considering it an act of vandalism, when all things are considered?

 

It's quite an emotive subject and one, pretty much, perculiar to the UK. Most anglers and conservationists I know are not vegetarians, and do eat meat/fish. Now most of our meat comes from intensive farming practices, which I for one as an angler and conservationist detest. Pumped up, tastless flesh. Nothing can beat the taste of a wild animal, be it a wild run salmon, a small brownie that has spent it's life fighting fast, cold, crystal clear currents. I do take the odd game fish, I do take fish from the sea (Even the like of a fresh cod, taken and eaten within 24 hours will beat the socks of anything you'll find on the fish counter) I have in the past eaten nearly everything that swims. So why have I stopped? Well, our native fish have never been under so much threat from predation. There is little we can do about natural predation such as cormarants, but with many, many fish now being taken for the pot by newly arrived immigrants, and sea fish being decimated by industrial rape, how can we be expected to educate and integrate the immigrants, and halt the decline of our sea stocks if we don't practice what we preach?

 

Right I'm off to shoot a lamb for my dinner

 

Singy

Angler against roe

[Steve Coppolo]

Some fish are recognised at good eating fish, such as trout, salmon, eels, etc. Howver, I find the thought of eating any other freshwater species a bit like the thought of eating next doors cat, ie, probably edible, but why the f*** do it?

 

As has been said before, in this day and age there is no need for anyone to eat these fish through hunger, and from what I gather, they aren't the best eating fish in the world.

 

Does anyone using this forum eat hedgehogs or squirrels?

[Andy Macfarlane]

Does anyone using this forum eat squirrels?

 

Elvis will be along shortly....thangyoo very much.

[dogfish]

Pike are one of the most highly prized edible fish in France. Called 'Brochet' I think.

 

As Fred J Taylor once said..."we must always reserve the right to eat one" (or words to that effect). In essence he was saying that that gave us a moral reason to fish.

[Steve Coppolo]

Pike are one of the most highly prized edible fish in France. Called 'Brochet' I think.

 

Yes but they eat frogs legs and snails too!

[Guest NickInTheNorth]

Not every water in the UK is under severe pressure. There are plenty of places where the stocks will not suffer at all from sensible harvesting.

 

I am certainly not suggesting that it would be right to be taking 3lb + perch from the Great Ouse (or anywhere else for that matter) for the table. However there are plenty of virtually unfished waters wherethe taking of an occassional perch for the table would do no harm at all.

 

I will not eat farmed fish of any species. It is one of the most wasteful means of food production known to man. Often taking several kilos of wild fish protein to produce 1 kilo on the table. As for buying imported fish, many of those imported fish are taken from waters that really cannot sustain the level of harvesting being carried out. Often in Eastern European countries where the levels of toxins in the water are way higher than is acceptable here.

 

If I know that a water I fish can sustain me taking an occassional fish then nothing will stop me doing so. When considering subjects such as this it really is time that people thought beyond there immediate locality.

 

Within 500 metres of my house I have three lochans all with decent stocks of perch. The cormorants and shags take all the fish they want from the sea in front of my house. I would guess that the lochans get fished for perch by no more then 5 people, and of those no-one would dream of killing more fish than they genuinely wanted for the table (which is not often and not many!) Nearest available supply of freshwater fish would be a 3 hour drive away(6 hour round trip), why shouldn't I eat the perch I want?

[peter mccue]

Pike are one of the most highly prized edible fish in France. Called 'Brochet' I think.

 

As Fred J Taylor once said..."we must always reserve the right to eat one" (or words to that effect). In essence he was saying that that gave us a moral reason to fish.

 

Well said Dogfish,

 

Thats it in a nutshell, we're opening a big can of worms the moment we say it's morally wrong to kill a fish to eat. It may not be right to kill a fish from a practical standpoint, but the moment we say its wrong from a moral standpoint our whole sport becomes questionable.

[captain cojones]

it only seems to be in the uk that there seems to be this aversion to eating the occasional freshwater fish.

many of them make good eating.not all waters are under such severe pressure,that it would be foolish to take the occasional one for the pot,for the harm it would do to stocks.

there is no way i would buy a fish n a supermarket in the uk, in preference to one i could take fresh myself,from sea or freshwater.

cheers dave.

[Guest rabbit]

Anyone that would consider taking a freshwater fish to eat in this day and age is in my opinion not a considerate angler. Imagine if every angler took two or three fish a session, they would not take the smaller fish , but the larger pan size I presume. Can you immagine what that would do to our fish stocks? On the one hand we condemn the Eastern Europeans for taking fish and then some of us advocate the very same thing.. Of course their maybe exceptions such as the Perch in Nicks Lochs, but come on get real its hardly a feasible thing to do.