We Can Fish Better
No one wants to hear it, but fish don’t like us ripping a hole in their faces. And in my opinion we shouldn’t like doing it.
I accept that we fish for food, but I never did like that we fish for fun. Never did get the pleasure in terrifying and maiming animals as a pastime. And in some cases, making this recreation possible by impaling other living animals as bait.
Except for those thing, fishing sounds delightful — the outdoor setting, the solitude, the meditative mood, the whirr of the fishing reel, the challenge and suspense, the restful sounds and motions of sitting in a johnboat, and so on.
Can anyone think of a way to enjoy recreational fishing (as opposed to fishing for food) without having to injure and kill?
Maybe we invent electronic fish we throw into the lake and then try to retrieve using all the ordinary gear and craft of the fisherman? Maybe we invent a non-hooking fishing lure that merely records the fact that it got a bite, and the fisherman earns a symbolic fish of that species and size on their phone? Maybe the fishing rod is a bluetooth wand and the fishing is all virtual, taking place in our hands and behind our goggles?
Surely we’re smart enough — aren’t we? Does anyone want to say we’re not? We used to slaughter buffalo for fun, but now we know we shouldn’t have. Fish are smaller. They don’t bellow and roar or even squeak. But have you noticed they fight very hard to get free?
Because which of us would want to hear ourselves saying, “It’s only fun if I get to hold a terrified, suffering animal in my hand?”
Judy Feltmann: I have thought of this often. As we hurl toward the end times, I think that humans are becoming more “animalistic” and due to the internet, we are realizing just how human (feeling, thinking, emotional) that all animal life is. So what to do with that knowledge? Today, I pulled up right next to a small cattle car at a light...I told myself: don’t look, don’t look. Well I looked and one or two looked me right in the eyes. I felt sick, just sick...as if we as a human race have really let them down by our quest for beef, beef and more beef. How did this happen? Same for fishing...or hunting...as a form of “bonding” with family / friends...
Tom Beaver: I think we do need animals as food. Maybe not, but there’s a lot of nutritional science that says we do. At the same time, every creature deserves to live its life in a way that fulfills that creature’s own nature. I think we have to start by accepting both of these realities, and work outward from there. How to use animals for food but still provide them a life that satisfies their own nature? I think we’re on the right track with the free-range and small-farm movements — basically, by resuming the kind of farming and ranching we traded several generations ago for one that better suits the business models of corporations. We need to somehow eliminate industrial farming. From what I’m learning, the main thing stopping us is the power of vested interests.
David Bryant: I don’t buy the argument we are getting more animalistic in any way, shape or form. Why not?
Because I’ve seen a Rack in person and read what it actually does to the human body. Because I’ve read ‘Discipline and Punish’ and learned about the shift from overt control through force to more subtle forms of coercion like indoctrination and willing obedience.
If anything, we are becoming more calculating and even further distancing ourselves from the consequences of our actions.
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Tom Beaver: I see a trend of greater appreciation of and empathy for animals. I don’t know if it’s strong enough to say humanity is showing a net increase in that direction, but there is (I would argue) a very definite strain of improvement of this particular kind running through society. I think FB in particular has done a lot to make this possible: it is a venue where people share the things that inspire them, the causes they care deeply about, and it turns out that a love of animals is a common nerve for many — and sharing this love openly seems to inspire others to find it in themselves, and to make it an aspect of themselves they share in defining themselves to others.
Judy, does this jibe with what you’re saying?
Judy Feltmann: Tom Beaver Yes, due to FB and witnessing animal life up close and seeing more human sides than ever before...so maybe it was that way or is becoming moreso...we have no way of knowing for sure...but with everyone having a camera in their hand, we are witnesses the best and the worst
Bonnie E. Bailey: Used to go fishing all the time when I lived at home. Liked it a lot then. But just can’t do it anymore...baiting my hook with the worm is just so gross to me now and touching the fish is gross too. No longer a past time of mine.