Angler Hunting

I'm declaring open season on anglers.  Lets all hunt them for sport.

Since I won't be eating any of them, I don't really want to kill them.  I'd be satisfied with suspending them by their lips while I pose for a photo or two, or perhaps three, because we all know how hard it is to take a good photo while your catch is flapping around in the breeze.

I wonder if there's enough interest out there to warrant an angler hunting show?  I could do something commercial right after tearing the hook from their lips, like maybe French kissing them before letting them get back to their poker game.

Historically there's been much argument over whether fish feel pain, with anglers claiming that fish simply don't have the wiring to feel it.  Dr Bruno Broughton, a (pro-angling) fish biologist, says:

Fish just don't have the brains to recognise pain. The so-called emotional centre of the brain is missing in fish.

Perhaps someone should point out that the debate isn't about whether fish should visit a therapist after being hunted for sport or whether they're sad enough to blog about it, it's about whether it physically hurts or not, and following a study performed in 2003 (BBC report), there seems to be plenty of evidence that it does.

Proof [of fish feeling pain] requires demonstrating that the animal's behaviour is adversely affected by a potentially painful experience, and that these behavioural changes are not simple reflex responses.

Right, though it should be pretty obvious that the fish is stressed, frightened and fighting for it's life, which should be enough for people who aren't missing 'the emotional centre of the brain' to generate what some of us refer to as 'sympathy', regardless of whether the hook actually hurts... but lets go on:

Anomalous behaviours were exhibited by trout subjected to bee venom and acetic acid.

Fish demonstrated a 'rocking' motion, strikingly similar to the kind of motion seen in stressed higher vertebrates like mammals.  The trout injected with the acid were also observed to rub their lips onto the gravel in their tank and on the tank walls. These do not appear to be reflex responses.

The fish injected with venom and acid also took almost three times longer to resume feeding than the control groups.

Anglers of course dispute the findings, citing observations of fish behaviour, including a tendency for fish to attack the same lure again, should they become unhooked.  To them, this is evidence that it didn't hurt, whereas what's less of a logical leap, is that they're simply very hungry, and very stupid.  Actually I believe their lack of intelligence is irrelevant and I'm happy to test that by starving an angler for a couple of days, then putting a barbed wire fence between them and a spit roast.

I wonder how many times they'd attempt climbing the fence, despite the pain.