“The whole process of catch and release is torture for fish,” Rudi Hemetsberger, a Green member of the Landtag, said on behalf of his parliamentary group. This fishing method, in which fish that have not been spared and are larger than the minimum catch size, are returned to the water after being caught, is increasingly spreading in Upper Austrian sport and leisure fishing, denounced the Greens.
No one wants to accuse fishermen of deliberately torturing fish. However, the whole “catch and release” process is a torture for fish, confirms Hemetsberger: “Starting with the penetration of the fishing hook into the sensitive mouth or even the gill area, through the energy-consuming fight of the fish with the angler, the shortness of breath of the fish when they are taken out of the water to sometimes lengthy actions on land.” According to the Austrian Animal Welfare Act, fish are pain-sensitive animals capable of suffering.
Legislative change and research
That is why the Greens in the state parliament are asking for grazing justice in Upper Austria with regard to this fishing method. To specify the fisheries law and to raise awareness among fishermen. At the same time, Hemetsberger and his parliamentary colleague Anne-Sophie Bauer asked nature conservation officer Manfred Haimbuchner (FPÖ) how wild fish populations are developing in Upper Austria and how species protection is there.
What Catch & Release advocate says
How does a fisherman advocate catch and discard? This can be read very clearly on the website of the Vöcklabruck sport fishing association, which states: “That is why I am an absolute supporter of the catch & release method in those waters that harbor such fish. After leaving the fish farm, these animals, with support from the manager, at least two to three months needed to survive in the new ‘hostile environment’ It would just be a pity and a waste of laborious training work to give such a ‘transformed’ trout a ‘upside down’ “.
Plea for pond fish
And further in the text: “A pond fish in the pan tastes even better because of the certified selected food, and does not cause ecological wounds to the stocking structure of fish adapted to the current (eg Ager). Moreover, such pond fish are much healthier.” The full informative text can be found here – point 10.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
