Recreational Fishing

Fish feel pain

Did you know?

If you want to find out more facts about fish and fishing, read the rest of this factsheet.

Evidence that fish feel pain and anxiety

Fish can't scream or show terror in their eyes, so how do we know they feel anything?

In a study of lampreys (eel-like fish), it was found that 15 cells in the brain responded when the head was touched, and 2 responded when the skin was pricked with a needle. The 15 pressure cells fired steadily when the skin was pressed. The 2 nociceptive (pain) cells fired weakly when the skin was pricked with a blunt needle, but fired in bursts when more force was applied. This study demonstrated that the brains of these fish contain cells that register pressure and pain (3).

Public misconceptions about fish

What would you think if someone caught a cat or dog with a baited hook, then reeled them in and drowned them? This is exactly what happens to fish in the name of "sport".

Scientists have no doubt that fish feel pain and fear, like other vertebrates (animals with backbones) including humans. However, there is a high level of public ignorance on this subject. Here are some statements from experts:

" Fish constitute the greatest source of confused thinking and inconsistency on earth at the moment with respect to pain. You will get people very excited about dolphins because they are mammals ... and about horses and dogs if they are not being treated properly. At the same time you will have fishing competitions on the River Murray at which thousands of people snare fish with hooks and allow them to asphyxiate on the banks, which is a fairly uncomfortable and miserable death ." (Dr B. Runciman, Professor of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, University of Adelaide, Australia) (4)

" Few people have much fellow feeling for fish even though many fish are long-lived, have complicated nervous systems and are capable of learning complicated tasks ." (P. Bateson, Professor of Ethology, University of Cambridge, UK) (5)

" Fish are no mere reflex-automatons, but animals capable of experiencing pain and fear and influenced behaviourally by experience, expectancies and motivational state in a manner analogous to that in higher animals up to man. " (Dr R. Buwalda, Department of Comparative Physiology, Rijks University, The Netherlands) (6)

" It is not surprising that fish possess the peripheral anatomical and chemical prerequisites for pain perception. Simpler life forms, such as gastropods, also share these features and, like fish, they show nociceptive responses which are analogous to those in vertebrates. These responses, which can be inhibited with conventional anaesthetics, are particularly convincing evidence that fish and lower life forms have the capacity for feeling pain. " (Professor Neville Gregory, research scientist) (7)

With regard to pain, there is no difference between warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals. Researchers using fish in experiments recognise that they have to use anaesthetics and analgesics to reduce pain and stress, in the same way that they do for other animals (8).

It is interesting that Recfish Australia in its National Code of Practice (18) states: "Responsible fishing means treating fish humanely". According to the Macquarie dictionary humane means "characterised by tenderness and compassion for the suffering or distressed". It would be pointless treating fish humanely if they were incapable of suffering. Clearly even Recfish accepts that fish can suffer.

Suffering caused by fishing

Hooking and gaffing

Anyone who has ever had a fish hook stuck in their flesh knows how painful it is. The pain is no different for fish. Pain and tissue damage are made worse when double or treble hooks are used, and when hooks are pulled out while fish are still alive.

Large hand-held hooks called gaff hooks are used to land large fish. These hooks are thrust into the flesh of live fish as they are dragged in, causing further injury and pain. According to one fishing authority: " ...permanent or even fatal damage can be inflicted if the entire weight of the fish is lifted solely on the gaff" (9).

It is unimaginable that any other animal would be treated so cruelly, and yet fish feel pain just like any other animal (vertebrate).

Killing or releasing fish

Fish pulled from the water writhe, gasp and flap their gills as they desperately try to get oxygen. Anyone who has ever been unable to breathe with know how terrifying this experience is. The Panel of Enquiry in to Angling in the UK describes the trauma of being removed from the water:

" The degree of trauma experienced by fish handled out of water may not be fully appreciated by anglers. The tissues of a fish, when it is removed from water, are subject in air to pressures greatly reduced and differing in nature from those they are subject to in water. Consequently there are greatly altered changes in the various peripheral systems affecting lymphatic and venous blood pressure and respiration. Bleeding tends to occur from the gills and, instead of dispersing, the blood coagulates and reduces the effective respiratory surface " (1).

Once out of the water, fish are often left to suffocate. However, they suffer even if they are released again. Firstly there is the injury caused by the hook. Secondly there is the stress of being removed from the water. Finally there is the damage caused by handling. Fish have a layer of skin and mucous over the scales. This layer is very sensitive, and is essential for the health of the fish, for example, to keep out infection (1). Damaging a fish's slime coat has been likened to third degree burns in humans (9).

The NSW and SA fishing authorities recommend that fish to be released are not removed from the water or, if they are, that they are handled only with wet hands, are only put down on wet material, and are landed only in knotless nets (9-10). Such recommendations reduce but don't eliminate pain and suffering. " No fish benefits from being hooked and dragged to the surface, no matter how carefully it is handled and released once it gets there" (9).

Tagging increases all the stresses associated with handling. It is still traumatic even if done with a tag pole rather than hauling the fish out of water. RSPCA officer Jim McKay on a Cairns talkback programme condemned marlin fishing and tagging as a cruel and barbaric activity that should be outlawed. He stated that (11):
" Even if fish survived being caught and tagged there were indications -based on how few tagged specimens were recaught - that they eventually succumbed to the trauma of the experience. "

This statement is supported by marine biologist Peter Speare, who said (11):
" There's no doubt that a lot of tagged fish die. ... Some die because their hearts give out under stress, some because the sort of damage done by the hooks would not allow them to live. Others are killed by sharks while being caught. "

Game fishing causes exhaustion, and exhausted fish are more likely to die. However, other types of fish also die. A survey in South Australia estimated that 3% of King George whiting died after release. The factor which most often causes such fish to die is injury from hooks embedded in vital organs-the eyes, gills, throat and gut (9).

Unfortunately, some people seem to think that tagging fish is harmless. It isn't -- fish still suffer pain and stress, which sometimes even kills them..

Live baiting

In game fishing, small fish are often used live as bait for larger predatory fish. They are attached to the line through the body or the eye sockets. As the magazine Fishing World describes:

" The needle is passed through the front of the eye socket of both eyes. The material is then pulled through so that the hook sits on the head of the baitfish " (12).

They are then towed behind a boat to attract predators. As a journalist observed:
" Sometimes they stay alive all day. If they begin to skitter in panic across the surface, observers know something big is closing in " (11).

The word "panic" is well chosen. Not only is live baiting painful for the small fish, it is also extremely stressful. Researchers at Rijks University compared the behaviour of fish used as live bait with fish in a tank where alarm substance was released. Alarm substance is normally produced by injured fish. The chemical causes panic in other fish, who flee the area as quickly as possible. Live baiting produces similar behaviour, except in this case the normal fleeing response is prevented. The panic can go on for hours (13).

The Panel of Enquiry into Angling concluded that live baiting should be banned. " The practice of live-baiting, whether in the sea or freshwater, is repugnant to most non-anglers and also to many anglers. ... the practice is not essential for the capture of predatory fish, for which other efficient methods are available. Live-baiting thus appears to be an angling practice that should be discontinued ." (1)

Live baiting is banned in Germany, Norway and The Netherlands (14).

Game fishing

Large predatory fish such as marlin and sharks are caught on light lines. The fisherman has to "play" the fish to wear down its resistance so that it can be reeled in without breaking the line. This can take many hours, during which time the fish is severely stressed. As in the case of live bait, the normal response to flee danger is prevented (13).

This struggle is also physically exhausting for the fish, as explained by the Panel of Enquiry into Angling (1):

" When teleost fish are severely stressed and exercised to exhaustion, they make extensive use of their 'white' muscle system. This differs from the red skeletal muscle of higher vertebrates in that it is anaerobic and, although very efficient in the short term, when exhausted contains a great accumulation of lactic acid during the elimination of which the muscle remains in prolonged fatigue. A completely exhausted fish will thus be almost unable to move for several hours after its capture. During this time it will be at risk to attack by predators or injury from its inanimate environment ."

Fish suffer this stress even when they are tagged and released, so a decision not to kill the fish doesn't stop the suffering. " Fish are wild animals and when you catch them they are stressed " (9).

In South Australia, game fisherman have sought great white sharks as trophies. Racing driver Pier Martini and golfer Greg Norman have travelled to Port Lincoln for the privilege of killing a shark (15). In 1995 the South Australian fisheries department issued a report on these fish, which recommended that the great white shark be declared a protected species because of their declining numbers. The report also stated:

" Little is known of the survival rate of individual sharks that are caught and "played" to exhaustion. This activity can take several hours before the shark is brought to the boat, tagged and line cut, often leaving the hook embedded in the shark and metres of steel trace attached " (16).

Great white sharks are protected in South Africa, Namibia, The Maldives, Florida, California, Tasmania, Queensland and New South Wales (17). They are protected in South Australia as from 1998.

Laws protecting fish against cruelty

Technically most states include fish in their Prevention of Cruelty to Animals acts. The exception is South Australia, where "animal" is defined as "any species of the sub-phylum vertebrata except - (a) a human being; or (b) a fish". The reason for excluding fish from protection in this way is political, not scientific.

However, even though other states technically protect fish, it's obvious that these laws aren't taken very seriously, given the massive and widespread cruelty that is inflicted on fish around Australia.

Recfish Australia, an association of fishing groups, published a "Code of Practice" in 1996 (18). This code recommends that fish be killed immediately by a firm tap on top of the head or by pithing. Immediate killing is certainly preferable to suffocation, but inexperienced people may not be able to kill the fish instantly and will only increase their pain. The code also recommends that fish are retrieved as quickly as possible, are only handled with wet hands, and are returned to the water as quickly as possible.

This code has no legal standing, so fishermen are not obliged to follow its recommendations. Even if it is followed, it can only lessen, and not eliminate cruelty to fish.

The only solution is to stop recreational fishing, and to choose pastimes which don't injure and stress animals.

Read a poem written by a year 12 student about the suffering of fish: A fish's plea .

To see other web sites about fish, visit Pisces and No Fishing .

I would like to see References for this document on recreational fishing.

Pain in other marine animals

In the UK, the cephalopods such as octopus have been included in legislation to protect animals in laboratories. The cephalopods not only seem to feel pain, but show signs of intelligent behaviour. For example, they deliberately modify their home sites by moving rocks in, and use water jets to move sand and unwanted rocks out (19).

There are now guidelines in several states for the humane killing of crustaceans (lobsters and crabs) because it is recognised that they are probably capable of feeling pain and distress. Humane ways of killing these animals have been studied for many years. One such researcher commented on the practice of dropping crustaceans into boiling water: (20)
"Some people think nothing of this because the victims are lower animals, and others excuse themselves on the grounds that the process only lasts a few seconds. However, anyone who watches the violent reactions of crabs being scalded to death can see that they suffer extreme pain. "

Research has been done more recently at the University of Tasmania on the humane killing of giant crabs, and also on suitable anaesthesia to reduce stress, discomfort and potential injury to crabs used in education and research (21).

There are many similarities in the behaviour and biochemistry of animals from widely differing species, even the so-called lower animals without backbones (invertebrates). One researcher commented: (22)
" The ability to respond to aversive environmental stimuli is a basic characteristic of all animals . This capacity of animals to detect and behaviourally react to stimuli that may compromise their integrity is embodied in the term 'nociception'. "

While the researcher doesn't wish to admit that 'nociception' is the same as pain, he does state: " It should however be recognised that most animals do have some level of feelings and awareness. ".

He notes that many animals produce opioids such as the endorphins, which modify nociceptive behaviours, including gastropods (eg snails), molluscs (eg mussels) and crustaceans (eg crabs). The way the opioids modify nociceptive behaviours is very similar in these "lower" animals and mammals.

The less an animal resembles humans, the harder it is to judge what it is feeling. However, there is enough evidence to suggest that even "lower" animals can feel pain and distress. Therefore, they should be given the benefit of the doubt, and treated with respect and consideration.