Anglers are to be banned from using live fish as bait

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Anglers are to be banned from using live fish as bait after politicians decided it was cruel.

The ban, which will apply in Scotland, has angered fishermen south of the border who believe it has handed a major victory to animal rights campaigners calling for similar legislation in the rest of Britain.

Steve Greenway, a leading angler from Staffordshire who has been on 105 fishing trips to Scotland, said: "If I thought live bait was cruel, I wouldn't use it. Where will it all end? Do you stop using maggots and worms as well?"

Mark Barrett, the general secretary of the Pike Anglers' Club of Great Britain, said: "To have the law change like this on your doorstep is going to be a concern for people in the rest of the UK."

The blanket ban was a last-minute amendment to the Aquaculture and Fisheries Bill, which has just passed through the Scottish Parliament without any objections.

It has already been strongly endorsed by Scotland's deputy environment minister Rhona Brankin and will pass through the legislature for a final time in the next three months before becoming law.

Green Party MSP Eleanor Scott, who is deputy convenor of the environment and rural affairs development committee and an architect of the Bill, said: "Anglers won't like me saying it, but fish do feel pain and we felt there was a cruelty issue here."

The politicians also believe live bait threatens fish stocks by introducing alien species into their habitats which may bring diseases and parasites.

Putting live small fish such as roach on a hook is a common tactic for catching larger, predatory fish like trout, perch and pike, which are drawn to the movement.

The coarse fishing industry contributes up to £7 million a year to the Scottish economy. Ron Woods, a policy officer from the Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling, said: "This will hurt fishing tourism."

But Yvonne Taylor, from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said the ban was a "massive first step" in the group's fight for one in the rest of Britain.

Angling is the nation's most popular participation sport, with an estimated four million devotees. In recent years their hobby has been increasingly targeted by animal rights activists. Last summer saw a spate of attacks on fishermen.

Scientists are divided on the issue of whether fish can feel pain

Thanks to the Telegraph newspaper online

[Charter Skipper]

The begining of the end !!!!!!!!!........next it`ll be a fishing ban ,because if hooking live baitfish is cruel,actually hooking and catching fish will be clased as cruel.

What a load of crap..

[fishypaul]

what a load of tosh,

they don't think about the suffering endured by all the fish caught on the trawlers left to die a slow suffocating death,is that not cruel ??

they use prawns etc in their beloved salmon fishing,is that not cruel as well ?


look out sea anglers they will be fighting for the rights of lugworm and ragworm next
the whole world is going crazy

[dougwoolcott]

The Norwegians ban live bait but dont worry too much about spearing mammals !

[BaggieRich]

This sounds like the thin end of the wedge to me. Brace yourselves guys, the fight starts here.

[baitmaster]

it saddens me to think that politician can just by a stroke of a pen make a decision like this but it now has handed animal rights the upper hand and theyy now have documented evidence due to this ban to attack angling as a whole .
we were urged at the time of the fox hunting saga to stand and be countered as our fishing would be the next target on the agenda and a large part of the fishing community through out the uk thought it would ,nt effect our fishing (how wrong they were not to support fox hunting )
now we will see how far it will go it will massively affect my own fishing for zander as i use live baits so i have a personel interest in keeping it in force .
if the ban comes to England as i which is now probably going to happen sooner than we think.
anglers now as a whole collective need to put the differences aside and stop infighting amongst the many different fractions and fight as one what ever branch of the sport you are be it sea, game, course,
specimen , or match or pleasure it will eventually effect you all .

as live baiting although controversial is actually a very important and all angler will need to stand together as if we lose this it will effect all of our fishing even if you don,t even use the method it will fundamentally undermind fishing as a whole .
although it will never stop livebaiting from going on due to not being able to police a ban if it actually happens it will push it under ground which will be even worse for fishing than actually leaving it as a legal method .

if you think fishing in a whole will not get banned as the commercial value is to high then think back to the fox hunters the they thought it would,nt happen either .


tightlines
kevin

[Rob M]

F***ing PETA again. Most of their arguments are based on very spurious research, just look at their website for proof. Its a shame that politicians believe it. I'd wager that anglers weren't consulted before making the decision. Question is, how will they police the whole of Scotland with a handful of inspectors?

Rob

[Banana Steve]

I may not agree with live baiting, but I do believe in one’s choice too. The problem with the anti’s they are treating the fish if they were human. All a fish knows is to eat, when to spawn and the instinct to run from a predator. Maybe fishing is cruel and I feel that there could be a genuine argument there, but hey so is seeing a starving child being beaten, and soldiers killing innocent people. The antis need to put there opinions back in prospective. IT’S A FISH, a slimy creature that 9 out of 10 anti’s wouldn’t touch, would be hysterical if they had to actually handle the fish. They are people who are wrapped in there little utopian world that they have forgotten what is really important in life, that is work and play hard. You don’t see me complaining about using wool to knit the Antis cardigans because it’s cruel that the sheep have their fleece shaved, especially without a good quality shaving cream.
Sorry, on a serious note, I feel that we should unite, because if there are 6 million + anglers in the country, that is a lot of voting power, and revenue for the country.

[baitmaster]

totally agree with that warmits now only 5,999,998 to unite



tightlines
kevin

[monkey nuts]

why dont these sad , jobless, time and tax wasting, cellary eating, tree hugging, self proclaimed HEROS get a life. the world is a food chain, no matter how it dressed up, live bait is part of that food chain and i eat the next part of the chain ........yum..yum
and why does our goverment listen to such b**l**ks and get sucked in to every think that thay should keep out of.

funny old world,