Expand Your Compassion Footprint by Banning Catch and Release

Fish feel pain, and as a result it's cruel and we should stop catch-and-release fishing immediately. At least that's what some dude on the Huffington Post claims...
 
A new book titled Do Fish Feel Pain? by the renowned scientist, Victoria Braithwaite, is a very important read for those interested in the general topic of pain in animals, especially because it has been long assumed that fish are not sentient beings and are not all that intelligent. This is a misguided view. A few years ago I reviewed the literature about sentience in fish and other animals who live beneath the surface and it's clear that a strong case can be made for protecting fish and other aquatic animals from harm. Professor Braithwaite's book contains an incredible amount of recent scientific data that support this idea.
 
But wait, it gets better...

 
Professor Braithwaite then goes on to note that these data will require us to change the ways in which we interact with fish because we now know that they suffer and feel pain. Catch-and-release programs surely need to be curtailed because even if fish survive their encounter with a hook they do suffer and die from the stress of being caught, fighting to get the hook out of their mouth or other body areas, and the wounds they endure. Even hunters agree that catch-and-release are unethical and that torturing a fish at the end of a hook is just wrong <http://rule-303.blogspot.com/2006/08/catch-and-release-fishing-is-unethi... . It would be singularly unethical not to increase protection for fish and other animals who we previously thought weren't sentient. Teaching our children that ever popular catch-and-release programs are inhumane is a good way to go for making the future for fish and other animals a more humane and pleasant experience. We can always add more compassion to the world and expand our compassion footprint.
 
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