Ban Fishing?

[Seasonal]

take a look at todays poll

http://www.itv.com/news/

[alan]

Too much money involved to ban fishing IMO don\'t know the stats for shooting but I would imagine that generates alot of cash as well.This debate has cropped up a few times on NESA,I\'m not that worried about it because it won\'t happen,they have\'nt banned hunting have they,thank god ! The hunts just laughed at the new law today

[micky-quayle]

i wouldn\'t get to complacent about it, true angling generates far to much revenue and has far too many participants to ban it at a stroke. but what will happen, in fact already is happening is a slow errosion of our rights and limiting the way we fish.
many waters i go piking on now have livebait bans, most of the livebait bans is to do with the translocation of fish and diseases from water to water but some waters have banned livebaiting by branding it cruel. if its cruel to stick hooks in a fish and cast it out as bait how long before it is considered cruel to strike a hook home and wind a fish in ?
unfortunately for us the anti fishing brigade are now well funded and growing in number.
BE AFRAID BE VERY AFRAID, DON\'T GIVE THE ANTIS ONE INCH, IT WILL BE THE THIN EDGE OF THE WEDGE !!!!!!!

[BriH]

Micky i think we Both said this sometime last year - i Know that we as Fisherman are next on thier list - HOW do i know this - Because one of my work mates wife told him so - might not be this year or the next few ,but the Tw@ts will keep banging on the door until we are classed as savages

Nuff said ( Strongbow / stella frenzy)

[john.frain]

This country sucks, the only thing that bothers me is that so many people are quick to condem other sports but forgetting that if they do not support those sports wether they participate or not they will get banned......

but you watch when it turns to there own sport and the dummy comes out.....makes me sick....

well i hate to say it but if they do ban fishing it would not suprise me and you know who will be to blame......

john

[MikeR]

The do-gooders are bringing this country down!
If I catch and kill a fish (humanely) I\'m a barbarian, but it\'s fine to buy one which has suffocated on the deck of a ship from the fishmonger or the local chippie. I\'m also evil if I shoot a rabbit, but it\'s fine to buy it from the butchers. Hypocrits the lot of them.
Anyone for the next plane to Oz?

[TC]

This is a topic which has come up time & time again on NESA and, as much as I agree with what has been said, I can\'t really see the point of \"discussing\" this on here, to be honest.
Why try to justify the act of fishing to fishermen?

I\'m not burying my head in the sand over this issue, I just think that the arguments \"for\" are being put to the wrong audience.

If it\'s a way of letting off steam about how you feel about the threat to fishing, then go ahead.....let off some steam. But be honest with yourself when posting.......what you say on here ain\'t gonna change anybodys\' opinion and you\'ll get little true \"discussion\" on the issue .

[mark]

aye, preaching to the converted, me for one have for more important things to worry about at the mo

[TC]

Despite what I\'ve said above.......this may well provoke some \"discussion\"..........

Throughtout the many times this issue has been raised on NESA, the old Oscar Wilde quotation has often been mentioned with regard to fox hunting....\"The unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable\".......a view I\'m in full agreement with.

Personally, I go fishing (on the odd occassion when I can get out), for fish to take home to eat.....not for any \"sporting\" asperations I might have. Yes, I get enjoyment from trying to catch my quarry, but my act of \"fishing\" does have a real purpose......to provide food.

I\'ve got to admit (and this may prove contentious with some), that I can\'t really see the point of setting out to catch fish you aren\'t (or can\'t) going to be able to eat. To my mind there is no difference between setting out to catch carp, rud or pike, etc, than there is to setting out to hunt down a fox.......what you gonna do?.......eat it?

\"Recreational angling\", I have no problems with.......as long as the fish caught are for the table......\"sport angling\"......yes I do have deep reservations about.

[tala]

I have to say that I\'m one of the rare shore anglers that does\'nt eat any fish at all (hate the stuff), so I fall into the the fishing for sport category.
I have been sea fishing since I was 14 and I\'m now 44 thats 30 years of not feeling guilty about my pursuit, I have always believed that fish feel no pain and that they are a creature of instincts not feelings/thoughts, maybe I\'ve been getting this wrong all this time, until Im told without doubt by the boffins that this is not the case then I will carry-on in my belief, my concience is clear.
I had a look at the poll that was on that web site and at that time 3/4 of the vote was pro fishing (not all them votes came from anglers I\'m sure).
I for one am not going to start to flap over the thought of the do gooders getting there way, it\'s something i dont think will ever happen, bloody hell even jesus\'s old fella was a fisherman (Joseph not the big fella).
You never know there might be a ban on garden gnomes with fishing rods next.

[Davyred]

Tony, take your point about fishing for the table, but I\'ve got 1 question - do you ever fish for Mackeral during the summer? If you do, is this for the table or for bait? If its for bait, what kind of angler does it make you - sport or for the pot?

Every summer I go Pollack fishing in Scotland and I love it. I\'m proud to say I never keep them unless I have to. If I were to fish for the pot, my shore angling season would last from October to March ie the cod season. I love my fishing too much to go into hibernation for 6 months of the year.

Angling is angling, whether its for the table or for sport. The mechanics of both principles are exactly the same. The only problem I can see with specifically fishing for the table is you have no way of determining what fish you are going to catch.

What if you were to catch an undersize fish or an eel, blenny etc - you\'d put it back. Now how different is that to angling for sport - you\'ve done the the exact last action a sport angler does - put the fish back.