Globally, the oceans are being emptied. Schools of small fish are trapped in nets and dragged up from the depths of the sea, while unsuspecting larger fish are seized from the ocean's surface with long barbed spears. It doesn't matter whether they're caught in a professional sweeping dragnet or hooked on a lazy afternoon off your favorite pier: While commercial fishing is responsible for killing billions of fish every year, "recreational" anglers only add to the carnage. Each of these fish was an individual who had a complex social life, a unique personality and the ability to feel pain.
That's why on March 24 _ World Day for the End of Fishing _ you should leave your hooks and fishing rods in the garage and instead enjoy a cruelty-free afternoon by the river, lake or sea. Be sure to pack a lunch of fishless filets. Fish need everyone's help to stop the mass slaughter, and it starts with you putting down your rod and your forkful of flesh.
Around the globe, commercial fishing regulations often go unheeded, making it impossible to know exactly how many fish are torn from the sea each minute. And that's not to mention the hundreds of other species who are pulled up and killed unintentionally _ and nonchalantly. Dragnet or "purse seine" fishing, in which heavy nets are dragged across the sea floor, ripping apart the natural habitat, results in hundreds of tons of "bycatch," or unintentionally caught sea life. Picture it: sea horses and sea turtles tangled up in nets, dolphins and young fish pulled out of the ocean _ and then discarded as waste.
Fishing is destroying our largest ecosystem: our oceans. Over half their population has vanished in the past 45 years. If we continue to fish for food and sport, this number will continue to rise until our oceans are devoid of life _ nothing more than mirrors for us to gaze into and wonder, What happened?
We must stop causing fish _ and our environment _ this pain. Yes, fish, like all animals, feel pain. They suffer when hooks puncture their lips and sharp nylon nets cut into their flesh. When they've been pulled out of the water, they thrash around and struggle to breathe. Whether animals have fur or gills, whether they're mute or cry out in pain, there is no excuse for tormenting them.
Like us, fish are vertebrates with advanced cognitive powers and the ability to create memories. Although we can't hear them, they talk to one another with squeaks, squeals and other low-frequency sounds, all of which help them to maintain close friendships over many years. Many have excellent color vision, and they love physical contact, often gently swimming near each other in the same way that your cat or dog brushes against your leg. Fish are resourceful _ blackspot tuskfish, wrasse and cichlids, for example, use tools throughout the day to build their homes and locate food _ but more importantly, they have complex sensory perceptions, the ability to feel everything, from relief to pain, and they suffer acutely when they're caught on hooks or in nets and torn away from their homes and families.
This World Day for the End of Fishing, let's leave fish in peace by putting down the fishing rods and trying some faux fish sticks. Grab a pair of binoculars and marvel at dolphins jumping in the warm off-shore waves. Or wade into the shallows and let rainbow-colored coastal fish circle your ankles. And above all, spread the word that fish are interesting, intelligent animals and, like humans, deserve to live.
