Videos from PETA opposing catch and release fishing. peta.com
Opposing Views
peta.com
There is another side to catch and release and some organizations such as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), believe it tortures rather than preserves. Others believe fish, when hooked, have the ability to feel pain.
Another argument that is made is that the mortality rate is too wide of a range, from 4% to 40%, to risk the health of a fish. Other studies like those published by the Journal of Experimental Biology suggest that injuries that occur to a fish’s mouth when being caught can substantially affect the ability of a fish to feed effectively using suction.
“Using high-speed video and computational fluid dynamics (CFD), we asked whether injuries around the mouth caused by fishing hooks have a negative impact on suction feeding performance,...” -Journal of Experimental Biology.
There are other factors that can impact the health of fish such as exposing them to air for extended periods of time or if they are handled improperly. Some biologists and anglers believe catch and release has been taken too far, causing too many fish to be released and negatively impacting the environment rather than helping.
“In 36 creel survey days involving hundreds of anglers, we found that not one single person took a bass home,” he says. “If nobody harvests fish, lakes that are not very productive will not produce larger size fish. Most anglers throw fish back believing they will get bigger, but that is frequently not the case…” John Tibbs, district biologist from Waco, Texas.