Goldfish Can Feel Pain?

[Kashta]

Followup Article - Activists Call for Ban on Fishing

Calls for angling to be banned after study shows... fish DO feel pain

Daily Mail - UK
26th April 2009

By David Wilkes

An angler shows off his catch. Campaigners say the findings show the 'barbaric' nature of Britain's most popular participant sport

A new study suggesting fish do feel pain has prompted fresh calls for angling to be banned.

But as animal rights campaigners hailed the experiment - based on heating up goldfish in a lab - as evidence of the 'barbaric cruelty' of the nation's most popular participant sport, fishermen cast off their argument.

'This research doesn't really demonstrate anything about angling as we don't fish with toasters,' pointed out Mark Lloyd, chief executive of the Angling Trust.

For full article, click here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ng-banned-study-shows--fish-DO-feel-pain.html#

 

[THE V]

Shoddy science to support someones agenda. A pretty classic example.

If you actually read the original paper it has nothing to do with pain. It's about nerve response to stimuli and secondary response behavior. It also shows the effect of opiates in fish.

It shows nothing new only repeats studies done by previous researchers. This is one of those papers that has very little scientific value.

 

[Flaringshutter]

I totally agree with TheV. Every time a study comes out suggesting fish feel pain, they want to ban recreational fishing. I think it's more important to ban goldfish bowls and factory fish farms. If we're going to ban a type of fishing, why don't we ban commercial overfishing. It's devastating for the environment, and they treat the fish as if they are already dead when they come on board. We'd kill two birds with one stone by doing that.

Although I'm not very unbiased, as I love trout fishing. But if you're going to go fishing you have to get over the fact that you're going to hurt the fish. I try not to be cruel about it - use a barbless hook, catch & release when possible, especially with threatened/rare species, and if you're keeping the fish then always use a fish club before you gut it.

The quote from the angler is spectacular. "We dont' fish with toasters." I nearly fell off my chair.