Do Fish Feel Pain?

[PapaBaruu]

Just thought you all might like to see the newest load of fertilizer to come from our friends at P.E.T.A.

It seem that we fisherman are causing the fish alot or needless pain and sleepless nights[crazy]

Check this out ( PETA billboard )


[inline "PETA dogfish-bill.gif"]


Coming to a roadside near you soon... PB


For more laughs go here--> [url "http://www.fishinghurts.com/feat-dogfish.asp"]www.fishinghurts.com/feat-dogfish.asp[/url]
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[MACMAN]

go to that link and click on the angling tab, i got a pretty good chuckle out of that one!! especially that professors quote of how smart the fish are and what a good memory they have-duh- obviously he has fished for macks at the gorge.
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[PapaBaruu]

Yea... That site is full of good belly laughs- Just goes to show what a diet of twigs and berries will do for ya [shocked]

Makes me wish that I could think like a fish too...PB
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[bwhitty]

p.e.t.a. actually had that billboard up at the mouth of spanish fork canyon several years ago trying to make anglers heading to lake powell for the million dollar striper contest feel bad! damn tree huggers any way.

plus im starting my own peta group []
People (who)
Eat
Tasty
Animals
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[Nica]

I thought PETA stood for People Eat Tasty Animals. Boy was I wrong! []
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[Tarponjim]

Well that does it for me. I'm going to just stop fishing since it hurts the poor little things. I've hooked and released fish before, and caused so much pain to them, that I think I now need to get some counseling. I'm so broken up about it that I can't even function. I'll throw away all my hooks and tackle so they are not used by other barbaric people to inflict pain on these creatures, and I think I'll start a wild bird and fish rescue center to profide relief for the animals in pain. So that I feel better and can live my life without sorrow and guilt, I'm not eating any more fish either. To help save the trees, I'm wiping my a** with plastic from now on and re-building my home with carrots.
[]
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[JoyRide]

You'll have to be careful ... plastic is a petroleum product .. possible polution. Or is that just after you use it in the woods?

and what about the old growth carrots?
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[Tarponjim]

I guess maybe I could recycle the plastic, and grow my own carrots in the garden, with no fertilizer and only rain water. Hope that doesn't damage the soil though!
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[Theekillerbee]

I'm starting a "Save the Fish" drive. Please drop all of your tackle off at my house, and I'll make sure it gets "disposed" of properly.[cool]
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[cadresults]

I was wondering also, if fish felt pain. I then remember that they
seemed to wiggle more when I hit their head on a rock so yes, I am
sure they do.
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[PBH]

Anthropomorphism. It means to give human characteristics to animals. For some reason, people constantly try to do this. Fish feeling pain? What is pain? Isn't pain something humans attribute to certain stimulus? Do fish truly have the brain capacity to compute "pain"?

Fish have extremely simple brains. Fish simply respond to stimuli. When a hook is embedded in a fishes mouth, does it feel what humans call "pain"? Or does that fish simply respond to that stimuli by trying to flee?


Personally, I think PETA would be much more successful if they would stop giving animals human characteristics. Fish don't know what "pain" is.
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[bwhitty]

[reply]
I was wondering also, if fish felt pain. I then remember that they
seemed to wiggle more when I hit their head on a rock so yes, I am
sure they do. [/reply]
now that's funny[laugh][laugh][laugh][laugh]
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[PapaBaruu]

[reply]
Personally, I think PETA would be much more successful if they would stop giving animals human characteristics. Fish don't know what "pain" is. [/reply]

Perhaps... But I could have sworn that I heard a meal worm scream like a girl the last time I poked a hook through it's rear end-

Or maybe it was me when the hook passed through to my finger...

PB []
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[EvilAsh]

Think about this guys. It's not the fishermen/women peta is targeting. It's the kids. They know they can't convert the older generation so they'll sit by and abide their time. We can't take this as a joke. They start by getting to the kids when they're in grade school. You guys remember the big stink a couple years ago when they had one of their bozo's all dressed up in a costume, protesting McDonalds outside a West Valley grade school? The kooks know how to get free press, and know young minds are impressionable.
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[piscispursuit]

I know four kids who won't grow up worrying about fish feeling pain. My 8-yr old son has caught more big fish than most adults, it's going to take much more than a billboard to convince him that spending 20-25 days a year fishing and messing around on the lake with his family is somehow wrong. That's the kind of impression we all need to make.
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[Fin-S-Fish]

Lol, some of you guys are hiliarious, but PBH, I do truly have more respect for you now.....you are always extremely intelligent and insightful.......but yep, now you're talking to me in my own language. Anthropomorphism huh? I've seen sophisticated rhetoric on this board periodically but not quite to this extent, as I recall.

But you are absolutely correct.......pain definitely is something that has to be contextually operationalized (defined). What we understand as pain is definitely NOT what other living things feel. Do other animals have nerves and spinal cords......yes. But of course their brains, neurons are nothing like ours. Sure warm-blooded animals probably feel pain in a much more similar way to ourselves......precisely because their nervous system is more complex. But fish? Gimme a break! They're cold-blooded with extremely simple brains......exactly like you're saying. A hook in the mouth for a fish does not feel anything like a hook in our lip or even a bird or mammal.

[Catatafish]

Let me preface this by saying I’m not involved with P.E.T.A. and I don’t agree with most of the things they do. I’ve hooked a lot of fish and hope to hook many, many more.

In the add that was referenced in the initial post, the one with the dog, I believe they (P.E.T.A.) were responding to some independent research on the topic. Here is one of the related links I found:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2983045.stm

Interesting read.

No, they don’t feel pain in the same way as people or mammals in general do. Of course whatever they feel is going to be different than what we experience. However, I don’t think it is accurate to say they feel nothing and are simply responding to basic stimuli.
Pain is most likely relative to the person or creature experiencing it; if the experience is different than yours, does it mean it does not exist?

P.S. Fishing is just about my favorite thing in the world to do and I’m not trying to start something. This is just something I’ve wondered about for awhile.
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[jacksonlaker]

I'm a hunter and fisherman and I dont agree with PETA, but I think the point they are trying to make is about catch and release fishing. If you really think about catch and release, are'nt we just temporarly tormenting a fish soley for our own pleasure??? Is there any benefit to the fish or fisherie by catch and release??? Is there any other outdoor activity where you impale a creature on a hook and line, let it fight till exhausted, take it into an enviornment where it can no longer breathe, revive it and let it go, hoping it will not die. If you did this with a duck or a pig or a kitten everyone would think you were crazy. I have had this disscussion with some tree huggers up here so I'm just relaying their point of view. People have told me they have no problem if you catch fish and eat them, It's the 'torturing" for our own pleasure that bugs 'em. I release most of the fish I catch, and keep a few for eating. Just something to think about....us fishermen need a way to fight this battle....not if they feel pain.
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[PBH]

[reply]
take it into an enviornment where it can no longer breathe,
[/reply]


Once again, anthropomorphism. Fish don't breath. They don't have lungs. They don't "breath" under water either.

This is my problem with the groups. They don't understand the concepts of the very animals they are fighting for...
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[ice_sled]

[#ff0000]If you are concerned about causing fish pain just go to Starvation and fish through the hard deck! Guaranteed that you will suffer more discomfort then the fish!!!!!!!!!![/#ff0000]
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