While this article is set against the current arguments going on in Europe around the question of setting up humane guidelines for fish farming, it is a good summary of the best evidence avaiable to-date.
My thoughts are that I do not know if fish feel pain or not, but it seems pretty damned obvious they do not like being hooked. But this begs the question of whether it is pain they react to or the line pulling them where they do not want to go. Most of the fish recreational and sport fishing anglers chase are predators and as such are well used to sharp bits (spines etc.) piercing their mouth parts. So in this narrow aspect of the whole fish and pain debate, the ‘ban fishing because fish feel pain from hooks’ argument is not an issue - but it is a great psuedo issue to bring in a ‘warm fuzzy’ element. Psuedo science at its worst.
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