A hot topic for some time now is whether or not fish feel pain (see my last post). For many (not all) people, this seems at the heart of whether or not fishing is cruel and whether fishing should be banned. I don’t know how many researchers have looked at anglers’ attitudes about the matter, so this is my informal survey on the matter. I plan on posting some  “Is Fishing Cruel?” posts in the future. Please take a couple of minutes and complete this 24 question survey. Thank you!

This survey is for anglers only. If you would like to complete the survey and you are not an angler, please send me an email or leave a comment to which I will respond (I can email the survey to you and you can email the responses back to me).

The survey is completely anonymous—I have absolutely no idea who submits the survey, no name, email address, IP address, cookies, etc. Therefore, I would like honest answers. Caveat: there is an option for your name & email address at the end, but you don’t have to include it and it will submit anonymously. However, in an effort to get as many responses as possible, there is a free giveaway for those who do include their name and email. I will give you your choice of a signed copy of my book or a pack of 10 fish note cards I’ve made. (Considering I don’t have a publisher for my book, let alone a manuscript for my book, I’d pick option 2.) I will choose one random respondent to receive the giveaway.

(Please, if you are a professional data-type personage, don’t tell me how inaccurate, incomplete, incorrect my little survey is, give me some suggestions to make my next one better. My main goal is just to get the pulse of the angling community, not to gather data for a professional research publication. Although, if you could help me make a better survey, it might certainly be useful to someone out there.)

I would appreciate it if you would help me out by encouraging others to take the survey too. Thanks!

PS – Please bear with me on a few questions which might seem repetitive.

Actual Survey Removed – Here are the question that were on it:

Survey ‘Fish Pain and Cruelty’ Responses

Show Individual Responses

Most humans feel pain at two levels, physiological and psychological. When humans cannot physiologically feel pain, it is called Hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy type IV, (HSAP Type 4), also known as congenital insensitivity to pain with partial anhidrosis (CIPA). Interesting dilemma for parents.

For the first 8 questions you will be presented with four species. If you had to choose one (please, for the sake of argument, you must make a choice), which of the four choices would you have the least trouble sticking a barbless hook in, pulling it around and then releasing it–in other words, you would be doing this for sporting/entertainment purposes?
Assume the following:

• The hook would be commensurate with the size of the species–i.e. the smaller the species the smaller the hook).
• The hooked species cannot feel pain at any level–assume they all have some form of CIPA.
• The hooked species will not “die” or be permanently damaged by your actions.
• The species is hooked in the mouth or mouth parts (lips, tongue, cheeks, mandibles, etc.).

If you had to choose one (please, for the sake of argument, you must make a choice), which of these would you have the least trouble sticking a barbless hook in and pulling around without killing/permanently damaging it, then releasing it–in other words, you would be doing this for sporting/entertainment purposes?

If you had to choose one (please, for the sake of argument, you must make a choice), which of these would you have the least trouble sticking a barbless hook in and pulling around without killing/permanently damaging it, then releasing it–in other words, you would be doing this for sporting/entertainment purposes?

If you had to choose one (please, for the sake of argument, you must make a choice), which of these would you have the least trouble sticking a barbless hook in and pulling around without killing/permanently damaging it, then releasing it–in other words, you would be doing this for sporting/entertainment purposes?

How much did the physical appearance of the previous species help determine your choice?

How much did the species’ domestication help determine your choice?

How much did your belief that the species was important/a nuisance to humans affect your choice?

The next 4 questions have the same identical four species as the first 4 questions. However, for each of these choices, imagine that each of the species could feel physical, but not psychological pain.

If you had to choose one (please, for the sake of argument, you must make a choice), which of these would you have the least trouble sticking a barbless hook in its mouth parts and pulling around without killing/permanently damaging it, then releasing it–in other words, you would be doing this for sporting/entertainment purposes–if it could feel physical pain?

If you had to choose one (please, for the sake of argument, you must make a choice), which of these would you have the least trouble sticking a barbless hook in its mouth parts and pulling around without killing/permanently damaging it, then releasing it–in other words, you would be doing this for sporting/entertainment purposes–if it could feel physical pain?

If you had to choose one (please, for the sake of argument, you must make a choice), which of these would you have the least trouble sticking a barbless hook in its mouth parts and pulling around without killing/permanently damaging it, then releasing it–in other words, you would be doing this for sporting/entertainment purposes–if it could feel physical pain?

If you had to choose one (please, for the sake of argument, you must make a choice), which of these would you have the least trouble sticking a barbless hook in its mouth parts and pulling around without killing/permanently damaging it, then releasing it–in other words, you would be doing this for sporting/entertainment purposes–if it could feel physical pain?

In the four questions you just answered, how much did your belief that the item might feel physical pain help determine your choice?

Which of the following best expresses your thoughts about choosing the items that could feel physical pain:

Again, the next 3 questions have the same identical four species grouped together as the first 4 questions. However, for each of these choices, imagine that each of the species could feel both physical and psychological pain.

If you had to choose one (please, for the sake of argument, you must make a choice), which of these would you have the least trouble sticking a barbless hook in its mouth parts and pulling around without killing/permanently damaging it, then releasing it–in other words, you would be doing this for sporting/entertainment purposes–if it could feel physical and psychological pain?

If you had to choose one (please, for the sake of argument, you must make a choice), which of these would you have the least trouble sticking a barbless hook in its mouth parts and pulling around without killing/permanently damaging it, then releasing it–in other words, you would be doing this for sporting/entertainment purposes–if it could feel physical and psychological pain?

If you had to choose one (please, for the sake of argument, you must make a choice), which of these would you have the least trouble sticking a barbless hook in its mouth parts and pulling around without killing/permanently damaging it, then releasing it–in other words, you would be doing this for sporting/entertainment purposes–if it could feel physical and psychological pain?

In the three questions you just answered, how much did your belief that the item might feel psychological pain help determine your choice?

Which of the following best expresses your thoughts about choosing the items that could feel physiological and psychological pain:

Do you ever have concerns about the physical act of a hook piercing a fish?

If I do have concerns about hooking a fish, it is because

If you do have concerns about hooking a fish, how do you reconcile that with the fact that you still fish?

Which do you think is more cruel, killing a fish or releasing it (assuming it has been played lightly and is in what appears to be good shape when released)?

This is the percentage of fish I try to release when I catch them:

From the species you had to choose from earlier to hook, for the most part, what was the strongest predictor of which species you would choose to hook?

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