Fishing
My newest most favorite thing, OpenSource, is looking to do a show on one of my oldest most favorite things, fishing.
One of the things I’ve been struggling with (and their promo touches on it, indirectly) is the ethics of catch-and-release fishing. Or, as some would have it, torturing small animals for sport.
In any case, one of my on-going ethical struggles is with teaching Jake and Nate to fish without connecting it to gathering food.
Now that OLN has dropped any mention of cycling from their lineup, they’ve gone back to showing a lot, a lot of fishing. The other night, I broke down and watched a show with some guys fishing somewhere exotic (Argentina, I think). They’d catch a fish, talk about how beautiful it was, how tough to catch, etc, and let it go. No problem, right?
I dunno – sure, the fish all swam away. And the show closed with them having some sort of bar-b-q – huge slabs of meat roasting over a fire. Which is when it hit me exactly what a shock it would have been if one of the guys had slipped his pocketknife into the frontal lobes of one of the trout, killed it and gilled it, and brought it back for shore lunch. But having no problems glorifying killing livestock.
Um, yeah. I’m rambling here. My point, I guess, is that I’m not so sure that catch-and-relase is so much more ethical than catch-and-eat; especially if the catch-and-eat is strictly limited (ie, stringers of one or two fish, not twenty). I’d like to see the show address this, but cannot word it such that I don’t appear psycho. Any ideas?
10 Responses to “Fishing”
Comment from etrigan
Time August 25, 2005 at 10:22 am
On a recent episode of America’s Test Kitchen they made Flambeed Pan Rosted Lobster, which I thought I had no problem with until Bridget gently placed the tip of her knife on the back of a lobster’s head indicating where to cut the lobster. Then she violently (and it seemed with more than a little glee) slammed the blade right domn the middle of the lobster making the LIVE LOBSTER begin FLAILING while she continued to cut it into quarters.
I really think there should have been a warning along the lines of:
CAUTION VIEWERS: Our staff of decently thick blonde ladies= will be slaughtering live animals on today’s show.
Comment from Becky
Time August 25, 2005 at 11:49 am
This reminds me of one of the most horrifying moments of my childhood, actually. Dad was teaching me to fish in the middle of a lovely lake in Arkansas. I think I was about 4. We caught a nice big fish and Dad chained it to the side of the boat so it swam (happily, I thought) in little circles while we kept fishing. I made friends, named him something silly and spent way more time watching him than fishing.
At the end of the day, we went back to shore and ate him. I cried for the next 2 days.
This is pretty girly I realize, but I would have much rather we’d just looked at the pretty fish and thrown him back.
Comment from K.Chad Hauser
Time August 25, 2005 at 1:55 pm
Man, have you gone soft in your old age, or what? While I appreciate your consideration of the fishes and the ethics surrounding catch-n-release, I think you may be missing the big picture. Those boys of yours need to know how to tie a proper fisherman’s knot, when to use night-crawlers, how to retrieve a snagged crank bait, etc. There’s an entire world of fishing that is vastly more important than the fish. Hangin’ with Dad and playing with crickets and squealing when the worm poops in your hand and dropping the Snoopy Zebco over the side of the boat is what fishing is about. Right now’s the time they learn about doing man things from the most important man in their lives. Let them do battle with their inner -sissies when they get about our age.
Man up for now and save the ethics problem for a time when they can gang up on you and point out what a puss dad’s become in his retirement. And then everyone can have a good laugh at the irony that none of you have wet a line over 20 years.
By the way, if you’d just learn to fish like me, you’d never have to worry about ethics. I haven’t harmed a fish in a decade, but not for a lack of trying.
Comment from Christian
Time August 28, 2005 at 4:20 pm
And I guess there’s no catch-and-release for duck hunting?
Comment from jank
Time August 29, 2005 at 12:57 pm
I think Chad’s got the right tack on this one. Inner debates are best left inside.
Comment from k-pho
Time August 29, 2005 at 1:51 pm
Back to John’s lobster comment …
We came upon lobster at an amazing (even by Maine standards) 5.99/lb over the weekend, so we brought a couple of them home for a recipe we found in Jacques Pepin’s latest tome. Jacques also recommends a quick head cleaving, but I had to question the humanity of it after I watched the suckers flailing around in the sink with a couple of split heads. I just about ran screaming out the door after that. The HORROR, people.
BTW, I want nothing to do with Cook’s Illustrated or ATK. They suck every bit of fun out of cooking.
Comment from etrigan
Time August 29, 2005 at 2:36 pm
and here I thought we were friends.
I now swear that Kevin Photi is mine enemy.
Chrs Kimball rocks!
Comment from k-pho
Time August 29, 2005 at 3:10 pm
Oh come on. He’s a robot, self-programmed to find the absolute perfect way to burn a creme brulee or whatever. This stuff is the kind of snobbery and rigidity that turns people away from cooking. Every article in CI is a headache waiting to happen. Do not align yourself with this man!
Comment from KMc
Time August 31, 2005 at 6:46 pm
His arms are very robot-like.
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Comment from k-pho
Time August 25, 2005 at 7:57 am
Ethics aside, the show would do sportsfolk a great service if they cover how to do catch-and-release properly. The last study I saw said fish have a 90% likelihood of surviving and won’t be as traumatized if they are handled a certain way from start to finish.