you ask what's next? PETA campaigns against eating fish!

[FalconSmitty]

What kind of people are PETA people? It makes my blood boil.

peta's Fish story

NEW YORK (AP) -- Touting tofu chowder and vegetarian sushi as alternatives, animal-rights activists have launched a novel campaign arguing that fish -- contrary to stereotype -- are intelligent, sensitive animals no more deserving of being eaten than a pet dog or cat.

Called the Fish Empathy Project, the campaign reflects a strategy shift by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals as it challenges a diet component widely viewed as nutritious and uncontroversial.

"No one would ever put a hook through a dog's or cat's mouth," said Bruce Friedrich, PETA's director of vegan outreach. "Once people start to understand that fish, although they come in different packaging, are just as intelligent, they'll stop eating them."

The campaign is in its infancy and will face broad skepticism. Major groups such as the American Heart Association recommend fish as part of a healthy diet; some academics say it is wrong to portray the intelligence and pain sensitivity of fish as comparable to mammals.

"Fish are very complex organisms that do all sorts of fascinating things," said University of Wyoming neuroscientist James Rose. "But to suggest they know they what's happening to them and worry about it, that's just not the case."

PETA, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, has campaigned for years against sport fishing, challenging claims by Rose and others that fish caught by anglers do not feel pain. PETA also has joined other critics in decrying the high levels of mercury or other toxins in many fish and the pollution discharged by many fish farms.

The Empathy Project is a departure in two respects -- attempting to depict the standard practices of commercial fishing as cruel and seeking to convince consumers that there are ethical reasons for not eating fish.

"Fish are so misunderstood because they're so far removed from our daily lives," said Karin Robertson, 24, the Empathy Project manager and daughter of an Indiana fisheries biologist. "They're such interesting, fascinating individuals, yet they're so incredibly abused."

The project was inspired by several recent scientific studies -- widely reported in Britain but little-noticed in the United States -- detailing facets of fish intelligence.

Oxford University researcher Theresa Burt de Perera, for example, reported that the blind Mexican cave fish is able to interpret water pressure changes to construct a detailed mental map of its surroundings.

"Most people dismiss fish as dimwitted pea-brains. ... Yet this is a great fallacy," wrote University of Edinburgh biologist Culum Brown in the June edition of New Scientist. "In many areas, such as memory, their cognitive powers match or exceed those of 'higher' vertebrates, including non-human primates."

Chris Glass of the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences in Massachusetts led another recent study, showing how North Sea haddock developed abilities to avoid trawlers' nets.

"There's no doubt that fish of all shapes and forms are capable of learning fairly complex tasks," Glass said. "They can learn from their environment and experience."

Yet Glass declined to endorse the don't-eat-fish appeals.

"We don't want to be caught between warring factions," he said. "We're interested in helping the fisheries industry do a responsible job."

To press their argument, PETA activists plan demonstrations starting next month at selected seafood restaurants nationwide. PETA also will urge changes in commercial fishing practices, for example proposing that trawler crews stun fish before cutting them up.

Friedrich questioned why there is popular support for sparing marine mammals -- dolphins and porpoises -- yet minimal concern for species like tuna, "whose suffering would warrant felony animal cruelty charges if they were mammals."

Fish-welfare rules would be a new realm for U.S. commercial fishermen. The National Fisheries Institute, which represents them, has pledged to help sustain fish stocks but its members have never faced cruelty regulations regarding their catch.

"It's irresponsible to discourage people from eating fish at a time when doctors and dietitians advise eating it twice a week," said institute president John Connelly. "If anything, we should be eating more fish."

Friedrich acknowledges the difficulty of changing long-held customs, but thinks his project is worthwhile. "We'd rather go too far than not far enough," he said.

[crap-king]

Its not the fish I think of as dim-witted pea brains but the people who have nothing better to do than worry about how fish are treated when we got starving children and their parents as well as seniors that need feeding - when they get these people fed maybe I will quit trying to catch fish - that's a lie I am going to always fish but I don't see'um feeding everybody before they start whining about something else
crap-king

[CrappiePappy]

I found this on another site ... but it addresses PETA and what we as anglers need to be doing to stem the tide. They are making headway in some areas ... and yours could be next. I especially liked the part of the article that deals with anglers of different species, who need to stop disrespecting each other - and join forces for the common good of us all !!
Give it a read and decide for yourself ....... http://www.tnstripedbass.com/THEANGLERSMANIFESTO.htm

Yes - it is dated ... written in 2001, but the message is still valid - and probably more so, today. ................cp

[FalconSmitty]

THE ANGLER'S MANIFESTO . Thanks Pappy and you are right.

King, I furnish a few families with fish myself. I have one with 9 kids from 2-15 years old. I know they want me to fish.
I wish they would publish a study about how plants are the most sensitive creatures where pain is concerned. What would they eat then? Rocks?

[Moose1am]

I want to invite Bruce F over to my house so he can watch me clean my fish on the back deck. LOL

He is an Idiot to think he can stop me or anyone else from catching and eating my fish. To propose that it's cruel to eat fish is INSANE.

Guys like this must be missing some parts of the X Chromsomes.

If I owned a seafood restraunt and he came out in front of my store I would have him hauled off and feed to the gators.

Sure fish can feel pain but do I care. NOPE! I am still going to cut their heads off and filet them. I do try to pith them with my first cut into the head to sever their spine so they don't jump around when my filet knife is cutting them up into filets. Heck I don't want to cut my figures off because they are moving too much.

Man I use to argue with the girls in my HS during my freshman and sophmore year about the merits of hunting wild game. We never really agreed as most of them would make good PETA members while I would have made a good Presidnent of the Hunting and Fishing Club. LOL

We see these PETA types pop up from time to time. But if they get in my way while I am fishing or hunting I will have them arrested. You see in Indiana it's against the law to interfer with the legal taking of game or fish by PETA types.

An earth worm feels pain too but should we charge the Robins with animal cruelity? NO!

Plants can response to stimuil so should we charge anyone that cuts a rose bush with Plant Cruelity? NO!

Bruce needs to go back and play with his dolls.