‘Stressed’ fish get bill of rights

[Elton]

More details here:

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/s...icle2010193.ece

[spasor]

Very laudable. All laboratory creatures deserve a certain standard of living.

But why oh why do anglers have to take it as an attack on angling?

[Steve Walker]

Oh for God's sake...

 

It talks as if the use of fish in science was previously unregulated. I used to hold a home office licence to use fish in research. Before I was allowed to have that, I had to attend a short course on the practical, legal and ethical implications. Every procedure had to be justified and approved. A "procedure" included things that you could do to your goldfish at home with impunity; I was studying the effects of physiological stress, and the way of generating it was to net the fish out of the tank and put it in a shallow bucket of water for a few seconds. That's a procedure, has to be approved. I marked the otoliths of the fish with a fluorescent calcium binding dye injected into the flank. Net it out, inject it, back in the water. Procedure. Approval required. I anaesthetised the fish and took blood samples. Procedure, approval required. We starved the fish for 24 hours to get background cortisol levels because feeding messes the levels up. Procedure, approval required. We kept the trout in quite small tanks because too low a density leads to dominance hierarchies forming and the subordinate fish get stressed. Confinement. Procedure, approval required.

[Chris Goddard]

Usual SHITE!!!

And why do anglers have to take it to heart Spasor?? Because the ANTI fishing brigade brought up the subject first perhaps and they feel they SHOULD defend the position??

[Anderoo]

'Of course fish feel pain, all animals do! The fallacy that anglers proclaim fish are stupid, hence feel no pain is ridiculous. If stupidity was a measure of anything, then anglers would be at the front of the queue for the prize.

Angling is as despicable as any cruel sport attacking defenseless creatures, and the sooner it's brought to book the better.

My experience of anglers is they are as extreme, and violent as any pro hunt lunatic, when pushed on the subject.

Care in the community simply doesnt work.'

 

Derek Moody, Bristol, UK

 

 

'I'm sure fish do feel pain. This is the first step towards banning angling. How would you like a hook through your lip? Here comes the Hunting Bill all over again'

 

John Ledbury, Kings Lynn, England

 

 

'Well done. Next, we must deal with angling, as surely this is extremely stressful for fish. Even those fish whose lives are spared and thrown back in the water will suffer from horrific injuries caused by fishermen and their hooks and lines.'

 

Sue, Manchester, England

 

 

I wonder if Sue, John or Derek eat meat and/or fish? In my opinion, vegans are the only people able to voice such opinions without being accused of gross hypocrisy. How do people think their shrink wrapped bit of cod or chicked ends up in their baskets at the supermarket? Ever seen inside a battery farm? Any idea about what happens to intensively farmed animals? Or care about how a commercially caught fish spends its last minutes?

 

The argument that there's a fundamental difference between food production and a pastime holds no water. What these people's criticism is, is the pain of a sentient being. OK, then stop eating meat and immediately alliviate some of the terrible suffering that goes on. But that would affect you, wouldn't it?

 

It also shows how far removed the general public are from knowledge of what happens when we go fishing. It's laughable, really, that people so uninformed and hypocritical are allowed an opinion on subjects like this.

 

By the way, I don't want this to be taken as some kind of snide go at vegans, I mean what I say literally. I respect those who believe in something, and are prepared to make sacrifices in their own lives. It's the uninformed dewy eyed nonsense that gets me annnoyed.

[Steve Burke]

But why oh why do anglers have to take it as an attack on angling?

 

Simply because it gives the antis the ammunition they're lacking at present.

 

This could really be the turning point. In fact it could be the beginning of the end for angling in the UK.

[Elton]

I wonder if Sue, John or Derek eat meat and/or fish?

 

I can tell you that Derek Moody, if it's the one I know (and I'm pretty sure that is who the poster is purporting to be), did not write that.

 

He is a chap who has continued to fight the corner of angling on Usenet and, as a result, has a couple of nutters pretending to be him when situations like this arise.

[Steve Walker]

That's what I thought too (about Derek). He's had forged postings put up before, this would be typical of the malicious nutters he argues with.