Recreational angling involves billions of fish globally, with growing scientific evidence that fish experience pain and stress creating ethical obligations for anglers to minimise harm.
Game fishing occupies contested ethical territory: a beloved recreational tradition for millions that now faces growing scientific evidence that its primary subjects — fish — can experience pain and stress in ways that create genuine welfare obligations. The welfare case for reform does not require banning angling but does require that anglers adopt practices that minimise harm: barbless hooks, rapid unhooking, wet hands, minimal air exposure, and immediate return. Where fish are retained for consumption, rapid killing with a priest is more humane than suffocation. The welfare science of fish is advancing rapidly and recreational fishing bodies that engage proactively with this evidence will be better positioned to defend the activity long-term than those that dismiss it.