What's wrong with catch-and-release fishing?
Even when thrown back, fish that have been hooked are still being put through an unnecessary and cruel ordeal. Imagine if you ran a barbed hook through your hand. Sure, you would survive the experience, but you certainly would prefer not to have it.
Fish released after being caught can suffer from loss of their protective outer coating, dangerous build-up of lactic acid in their muscles, oxygen depletion, damage to their delicate fins and mouths, pain, distress, and even death!
Two recent studies found that many fish caught in catch-and-release fishing tournaments do not survive the ordeal. Tournament organizers have been claiming high live release rates based on how many fish are alive at the moment of release, ignoring the many fish who die later as a result of their injuries.
In both of the recent studies--one by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, the other by Texas Tech University--they tracked the survival rate of fish caught in tournaments (using a control group) over a six-day period. The Oklahoma study found that up to 43 percent of fish released from a well died within six days. Texas Tech's numbers were even higher, with 62 percent of the tournament fish dead in six days, while none of the control fish died. Hot weather, when water oxygen levels are low, is thought to be the primary culprit in the delayed mortality of fish caught in tournaments.
Ray Sasser, outdoor editor of the Dallas Morning News, as quoted in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, said of catch-and-release fishing: "As the (Texas Tech) study shows, maybe we should call it something else."
What about Jesus and the fish? Didn't Jesus eat fish?
Probably not: There is strong evidence suggesting that Jesus was a vegetarian. The only stories depicting Jesus eating fish took place after the resurrection, and most Biblical scholars agree that they are very late additions to the Gospels. The scribes who added the stories were not, apparently, averse to eating fish. But since this is the only depiction anywhere in the Gospels of Jesus eating any animals at all, it seems that he was a vegetarian.
The stories of Jesus multiplying pieces of dead fish to feed to the masses are also sometimes cited to justify cruel practices toward fish, such as sport fishing. Although it would not contradict the technical definition of a vegetarian to multiply fish who are already dead to feed people who aren't opposed to eating fish, there is strong evidence that, this story did not originally include fish. For example, the earliest (pre-Gospel) accounts of this miracle do not include fish, and Jesus, when he refers to it, refers only to the bread (e.g., Matthew 16:9-10, Mark 8:19-20, John 6:26).
Fish were added to the stories by Greek scribes, probably because the Greek word for fish, ixous, is an acronym for the phrase "Jesus Christ Son of God Savior." Indeed, the fish is still a symbol of Christianity today. In this very likely interpretation, the multiplication represents a prediction of the burgeoning church and has nothing to do with eating animals (or torturing them by impaling them on a hook).
So what did Jesus definitely have to say about fishing? Jesus calls multiple fishers away from their occupation of killing animals and pleads with them to show mercy to all beings, quoting Hosea: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." In each instance, they immediately abandon their occupation of fishing to follow Jesus (e.g., Mark 1:16-20). This resembles Jesus' call to others who are engaged in activities that are not in line with his message of mercy and compassion.
We all understand that it is immoral, antithetical to Christian mercy, to torture dogs and cats. It is equally un-Christian to torture or kill (or pay others to torture and kill) fish and other animals. Although they may not be able to scream out in pain, fish have the same capacity for suffering and the same right to our compassion as do dogs, cats, and other human beings.
Fish eat other fish, why can't we?
What next, plants?
Why don't you spend your time helping people?
