Spearfishing for me is a bit of an ethical issue. I'm pretty anti commercial fishing, I can't stand the attitude of thoughtless greed involved in the industry and the wasteful bureaucracy surrounding it.
I'm vegetarian apart from fish, and even then I get a bit fussy about what I shoot. I guess it boils down to what I'm happy with. It's a bit vague and only loosely based in science I'm comfortable killing fish on the whole because they seem to be to be less capable of .... higher order thought processes. Their nervous system is more primitive and I really have trouble empathizing with them.
I can perceive suffering in , say a cow. But I've gut shot a fish before and found it later on swimming along with the rest of the shoal, with its entrails hanging out acting as if nothing was wrong. I've no doubt they feel pain, but I'm not sure they feel the sort of emotional distress higher animals feel. their brain size is very small compared to other vertebrates and obviously the scientific evidence of their ability to consciously appreciate this sort of stimulus is divided.
Still I make it a point to kill them as quickly and humanely as possible.
This does mean though that I find myself unable to kill Cuttlefish and Octopus, their advanced nervous system and problem solving skills put them out of my comfort zone. Plus I just love them, amazing creatures.
If I encounter something I haven't seen before I don't shoot it either I go home and study it first. As a result I've never taken a Conger because as i understand it they are extremely slow to mature and only breed once in their lifetime. Not to mention the hassle preparing them.
What are your spearing ethics and why ?
I'm vegetarian apart from fish, and even then I get a bit fussy about what I shoot. I guess it boils down to what I'm happy with. It's a bit vague and only loosely based in science
I can perceive suffering in , say a cow. But I've gut shot a fish before and found it later on swimming along with the rest of the shoal, with its entrails hanging out acting as if nothing was wrong. I've no doubt they feel pain, but I'm not sure they feel the sort of emotional distress higher animals feel. their brain size is very small compared to other vertebrates and obviously the scientific evidence of their ability to consciously appreciate this sort of stimulus is divided.
Still I make it a point to kill them as quickly and humanely as possible.
This does mean though that I find myself unable to kill Cuttlefish and Octopus, their advanced nervous system and problem solving skills put them out of my comfort zone. Plus I just love them, amazing creatures.
If I encounter something I haven't seen before I don't shoot it either I go home and study it first. As a result I've never taken a Conger because as i understand it they are extremely slow to mature and only breed once in their lifetime. Not to mention the hassle preparing them.
What are your spearing ethics and why ?