My Take on Deep Sea Fishing

     When considering animal welfare, fish rarely come to mind. Maybe this is because fish are hardly similar to us or because we can't sense that they have feelings (physical or emotional pain). However, it is necessary to consider fish when discussing animal welfare because of our relationships with them. People fish for a variety of reasons: for food, for sport, and for relaxation are a few examples. I'd like to discuss deep sea fishing, a specific sector of fishing that I have some experience with.

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/management/recreational/documents/ethical_angler_web.pdf

     I have gone deep sea fishing twice in my life. I was young and didn't do any actual fishing the first time, but I remember clearly the second time. My family went out on a charter boat with two fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico for six hours. First, we went out to sea and stopped to fish for our bait. We used little pieces of squid to catch the bait fish. After that, we sailed for about an hour to get to deeper waters. We used the bait fish to try to catch other fish. Grouper and snapper were what we caught most often. There were many regulations with our fishing. In order to keep our catch, it had to hit a certain weight and size limit. We were also limited on the number of fish we could keep. If a fish didn't meet the standards or if we had too many already, we would release the fish.

View of the incoming storm (and some of the bait)

     Having so many regulations on the charter fishing was definitely a positive boost for ensuring animal welfare. The boat we were on also ensured that we did not put trash into the water, helping to protect the environment. However, I noticed one large breach in protecting animal welfare - the fish we kept were thrown into a cooler of ice to die rather than being immediately killed. I believe this is inhumane. When we got back to land, the fishermen filleted the fish (I assume they were dead after being in a cooler for hours) so we could take it home for food. Because we ate nearly all the fish we caught rather than keeping the fish as trophies, I think our deep sea fishing excursion was morally acceptable. However, I wish the fish were killed sooner rather than being put into shock from freezing temperatures and slowly dying. Many people may disagree because of our purpose for fishing (mainly for leisure, even though we ate the fish) or because fish were harmed in the first place, but my stance on fishing is that it is acceptable as long as we protect the environment, regulate our fishing, and use proper practices.

Our catches in Florida

     For fishing like deep sea fishing to be acceptable, certain guidelines must be followed. All laws must be followed, and the people fishing must do all they can to keep the environment clean and safe. Listed below are some links to practices to promote ethical fishing that I believe should always enforced.
http://takemefishing.org/fishing/fishopedia/fishing-and-conservation/ethical-fishing-best-practices/
http://www.discoverboating.com/resources/article.aspx?id=160
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/management/recreational/documents/ethical_angler_web.pdf