Recreational Fishing Welfare: Pain, Stress, and Best Practice

Recreational fishing in the UK involves around 3 million anglers catching hundreds of millions of fish annually. Whether catch-and-release causes welfare harm, and what best practice looks like, is increasingly well-evidenced.

Key Facts

Around 3 million people fish recreationally in the UK, making angling one of the most popular outdoor activities
An estimated 400 million angling sessions occur globally each year, catching billions of fish
Catch-and-release is widely practised in game fishing for salmon and trout — fish are caught and returned alive
Research on cortisol levels shows that captured fish experience significant physiological stress during and after capture
Air exposure during landing causes additional stress and can cause gill damage through desiccation
Barbless hooks cause less tissue damage than barbed hooks and are easier to remove quickly
Post-release survival depends on air exposure duration, water temperature, handling technique, and injury severity
Fish exposed to high water temperatures during catch-and-release show lower post-release survival

Welfare Considerations

Recreational fishing welfare evidence has advanced substantially, with studies demonstrating that fish experience physiological and behavioural indicators of pain and stress during capture and handling. Catch-and-release, while less harmful than killing, still causes measurable stress that can persist for hours post-release and increase vulnerability to predation. Best practice protocols — barbless hooks, minimising air exposure (under 30 seconds), wet hands, gentle hook removal, supporting the fish in water during recovery — meaningfully reduce welfare impact without eliminating angling. Temperature-based limits — avoiding catch-and-release when water is above 20 degrees Celsius — reduce post-release mortality significantly. Consumer adoption of best practice and angling organisation promotion of welfare-conscious technique are the most accessible interventions.

What You Can Do

Use barbless hooks and landing nets to minimise fish injury and stress during angling
Minimise air exposure — keep fish in water during hook removal and hold briefly for photos only
Avoid catch-and-release during warm water periods (above 20 degrees Celsius) when post-release survival is reduced
Follow the Angling Trust best practice guidelines for fish handling and welfare
Support Angling Trust campaigns for river water quality and fish habitat improvement
Advocate for angling clubs to adopt and enforce welfare best practice protocols
Donate to Wild Trout Trust and Salmon and Trout Conservation for river habitat restoration