River fish experience welfare harms from catch-and-release angling, stocking programs, and habitat degradation — evidence-based practices can reduce these impacts.
River fish experience welfare impacts from multiple human activities — angling, stocking, habitat modification, and pollution. Catch-and-release angling, while presented as conservation-friendly, causes genuine welfare harm through physiological stress, exhaustion, lactic acid accumulation, and injury from hooks and handling. The harm is minimized by best practice: barbless hooks, minimizing fight time, avoiding air exposure, and releasing in adequate depth. These practices require active promotion because many anglers underestimate the stress imposed. River fish welfare is also profoundly affected by habitat quality — water temperature, oxygen levels, and connectivity to different habitat zones — which are primarily determined by land management, abstraction, and pollution rather than individual angler behavior.