I'm wondering why I don't feel so sad for the fish if I'm watching fishing on a show. If I'm watching hunting or something then I definately feel bad for the animals that are being needlessly harmed -- and fishing is more often much more torturous for the animals involoved.

And this study indicates that fish are intelligent, thinking creatures:

If you thought fish were cold, wet creatures who forget everything in three seconds flat, think again. Scientists have found they are fast learners, carry mental maps around in their heads - and can retain memories for
months.

Swimming gormlessly around in their bowls or tanks, fish have long been dismissed as dunces compared with "higher"
animals such as rats, cats, dogs and primates. This view is now being challenged by findings that could re-ignite
the debate over the cruelty of angling. Tests on fish in aquaria at Oxford University have shown that despite their
tiny brains, they possess cognitive abilities outstripping those of some small mammals.

Dr Theresa Burt de Perera made the discovery using blind Mexican cave fish, which rely on subtle changes in
pressure to detect the presence of objects around them. In experiments, Dr Burt de Perera found that the fish did
more than merely avoid bumping into objects in their tank. They built a detailed map of their surroundings, memorising the obstacles in them within a few hours. Once stored in their brains, the fish used their "mental map" to spot changes in the obstacles around them - a feat that defeats hamsters.

-- By Robert Matthews, Science Correspondent http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/InNews/fishmemory.htm


I'm sure if I watched someone fishing for hamsters I would feel very bad for the little creatures. I wonder if it's because the hamsters would be screaming whereas fish don't use vocalizations to communicate and are therefor incapable of screaming. But their body language speaks of their pain.

My question: do you feel as bad for fish when you seeing fishing on a show as you do for a deer when you see a deer being hunted on a show? I'm not sure if I've ever seen a deer being graphically shot in a movie but I've often seen people fishing with all the struggle of the fish being shown.

My question: do you feel as bad for fish when you seeing fishing on a show as you do for a deer when you see a deer being hunted on a show?No, and I would like to have stronger feelings about the former.

[QUOTE=Mr. Sun]My question: do you feel as bad for fish when you seeing fishing on a show as you do for a deer when you see a deer being hunted on a show? /QUOTE]

Maybe not AS BAD, but definitely pretty close.

To me it just doesn't seem as graphic... there is typically no blood, no noises or sounds and their little fish bodies are not as animated with heads and legs and stuff.

Not to say it is not sad and bad... just not as hardcore looking.
Hmm.

Anyone with clear observations,know that "fishing" involves tremendous suffering to individual fish who suffocate ect and try despite not having legs to flip back into the water.

I don't need animal experiments to tell me the obvious.

It's not as hard for me to watch a fishing show, but when I do watch I feel so sorry for them, fish can suffer so bad, their eyes can pop out, their guts can come up and out of their mouth.:cry:
They are treated like nothing, if they did the things they do to fish on TV there would be an uproar.
I watched one show where they were pulling up net loads of fish and they were just stabbing them with hooks and throwing them in containers.:( :mad:

So I feel pretty much as sorry for them as I do other animals, it's just not as graphic.

Anyone with clear observations,know that "fishing" involves tremendous suffering to individual fish who suffocate ect and try despite not having legs to flip back into the water.

I don't need animal experiments to tell me the obvious.

I realize that there is tremendous suffering involved and I also don't need experiments to tell me the fish are suffering. But how do you feel about it? Is the same for you as when a deer gets shot?

I also find that I can look at a whole fish carcass and not feel too bad yet I don't think I could look at a whole rabbit carcass or something and not feel too bad. I wonder if it's just conditioning. It's rare that one can buy a whole animal carcass except for birds and fish. I guess cows and pigs are too big. But when I do see pig roasts on tv I get a sick feeling in my stomach.


I wonder if we, in general, don't get enough exposure to fish. I think they can be expressive (in their own way) and engaging but I think I would need to spend some time with them in the water to experience their personalities. We did have a fish tank in our house (we didn't buy it) for about a month and there was one fish that kinda looked like a gold fish but s/he had two long appendages. This fish did seem to watch us and had a personality. The guy at the fish store (we eventually took the fish there) said that it was not a gold fish (he told us the real name but I foget what it was) and it was well known that these fish do interact with people and their surroundings -- moreso than other kinds of fish.

I wonder if it's just conditioning.Probably, but we ourselves are mammals and fish are fish, so there are some differences in appearance and behaviour which may be partly responsible for our inability to sympathize as much. (But these should be overcome as much as possible.) The more something is "unlike" us in any way (like physiologically), the more difficult - and thus more commendable - is it for us to have sympathy.

You might be right Sevenseas. There are those differences which may make it hader to relate to fish. I think their "blood" system (I'm not sure what to call it because I'm not sure if it "circulates") may be one of the biggest stumbling blocks. We can readily identify with bleeding but not so much with "juicing" or whatever it is that fish do when they are injured.

I would love to go swim with the fish in the tropics sometime -- I would love to hear from anyone who has already done so. I wonder if it changes one's perspective on fish. Swimming with them, observing them. It would be fun to do anyway. :)

I've never seen fishing shows OR deer hunting shows.

Though I wouldn't be able to watch. :sick:

I don't even mean so much shows about hunting and fishing -- I mean like in a movie where there is a scene with hunting and fishing. Lots of movies show very graphic shots of fish being caught but rarely do I see one with a graphic shot of a deer or rabbit being killed. You'll see the hunter about to shoot the animal and then maybe the hunter carrying the carcass away. But with fishing you see it all and I wonder why it doesn't make me and others more upset.