By Chad Love

I was perusing online magazine Slate yesterday when this column by editor Michael Agger  caught my eye. It's one of the better takes I've yet read on the "do fish feel pain" debate and is well worth reading.
 
From the story:
 
Here we go again. There is a new study out that contends fish feel pain. A professor at Purdue and his Norwegian graduate student attached small foil heaters to goldfish . Half of the goldfish were injected with morphine, half with saline, and then the researchers turned on the attached micro-toasters. After the heat was gone, the fish without painkillers "acted with defensive behaviors, indicating wariness, or fear and anxiety..."
 
Agger's response?
 
"In my free time, I like to catch what you might call "stream kittens." My childhood house in Pennsylvania had a limestone-spring-fed stream behind it, and as a teenager, I spent evenings on the water casting dry flies...Like many anglers, I had the experience of catching the same fish twice, even three times. I wasn't hurting them; it was as though we were wrestling."
 
And..."What does my gut tell me about fish pain? Not happening. When I reel in a trout, I may be stressing the fish—making it expend precious energy—but it's not howling in agony."
 
It's refreshing to see a well-known mainstream journalist like Agger take such an unequivocally pro-fishing stance, isn't it? While I don't always agree with his columns (perpetual agreement with someone is unnatural and creepy) as a writer I appreciate his talent and enjoy reading his work in both Slate and The New Yorker.
 
OK, I have to admit I'm also partial to Agger because last year he mentioned both Field & Stream and me in this Oct. 17 2008 column.  My response to Agger's column can be found here.
 
As to the original question of fish and pain, I think researchers are simply looking in the wrong place. There's pain involved in fishing, all right, and plenty of it. I feel intense, lingering pain for every good fish I've ever lost, but do those scaly little bastards care? No, they forgot my existence thirty seconds after they broke my line and my heart. What about my feelings, huh?

Comments (11)

from idahooutdoors wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

With the current prices on fishing gear, most of my fishing pains have been felt in my wallet......

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from Brian Jackson wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

I posted this yesterday in the photos section. Seems to apply here.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/photos/trophyroom/recent/single?pnid=10013...

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from jjas wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

Why even discuss it?

Jim

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from ENO wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

Yeah...maybe the "professor at Purdue and his Norwegian assistant" could do something a little more productive. Like grabbing me another bottle of Leinenkugel's as I tie on this Lindy Rig.

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from Hunter Savage wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

guess what will be on the anti's next agenda if they think your not treating your fish humanly .

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from kirkdeeter wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

Great post. An important issue worth talking about (if we don't, the antis will, more and more).

The available science overwhelmingly quashes the pain argument.

Caught 12 stream kittens yesterday. They all smiled as I released them.

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from Jim in Mo wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

I believe fish suffer from stress not pain. I'm talking the stress of a person using too light a line and pole.
Don't play them all day. Either reel them in with proper equipment or don't fish.
Ole Forrest Woods and his old time fishing derby's wouldn't like me saying that. Back then them guys bragged about what they caught, and on how light their gear was. All the while the bass they caught were floating dead in the lake. Stress.

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from snowninja wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

I'm with JJAS, who cares??

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from FloridaHunter1226 wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

I'll tell you this, I don't feel bad for the fish unless the line breaks and I cannot retrieve the hook or if the wish has a hard time reviving. Althouth this counts for a small percentage of the fish I catch... it still counts and I feel a little bad about it.

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from chuckles wrote 2 years 35 weeks ago

I guess in my mind it is way more screwed up to torture fish to try to establish a scientific basis for whether or not they feel pain than it is to fish for them. In another study I read about in Britain they injected the fish with acid and bee sting venom. WTF?

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from cosplay wrote 1 year 26 weeks ago

I guess in my mind it is way more screwed up to torture fish to try to establish a scientific basis for whether or not they feel pain than it is to fish for them. In another study I read about in Britain they injected the fish with acid and bee sting venom. WTF?

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from idahooutdoors wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

With the current prices on fishing gear, most of my fishing pains have been felt in my wallet......

+3 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from kirkdeeter wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

Great post. An important issue worth talking about (if we don't, the antis will, more and more).

The available science overwhelmingly quashes the pain argument.

Caught 12 stream kittens yesterday. They all smiled as I released them.

+2 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Brian Jackson wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

I posted this yesterday in the photos section. Seems to apply here.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/photos/trophyroom/recent/single?pnid=10013...

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from jjas wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

Why even discuss it?

Jim

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from ENO wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

Yeah...maybe the "professor at Purdue and his Norwegian assistant" could do something a little more productive. Like grabbing me another bottle of Leinenkugel's as I tie on this Lindy Rig.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Hunter Savage wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

guess what will be on the anti's next agenda if they think your not treating your fish humanly .

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Jim in Mo wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

I believe fish suffer from stress not pain. I'm talking the stress of a person using too light a line and pole.
Don't play them all day. Either reel them in with proper equipment or don't fish.
Ole Forrest Woods and his old time fishing derby's wouldn't like me saying that. Back then them guys bragged about what they caught, and on how light their gear was. All the while the bass they caught were floating dead in the lake. Stress.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from snowninja wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

I'm with JJAS, who cares??

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from FloridaHunter1226 wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

I'll tell you this, I don't feel bad for the fish unless the line breaks and I cannot retrieve the hook or if the wish has a hard time reviving. Althouth this counts for a small percentage of the fish I catch... it still counts and I feel a little bad about it.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from chuckles wrote 2 years 35 weeks ago

I guess in my mind it is way more screwed up to torture fish to try to establish a scientific basis for whether or not they feel pain than it is to fish for them. In another study I read about in Britain they injected the fish with acid and bee sting venom. WTF?

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from cosplay wrote 1 year 26 weeks ago

I guess in my mind it is way more screwed up to torture fish to try to establish a scientific basis for whether or not they feel pain than it is to fish for them. In another study I read about in Britain they injected the fish with acid and bee sting venom. WTF?

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

Post a Comment

 

All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.