Extracts from the Medway Report on Shooting and Angling

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Pisces Information Sheet C
Extracts from the Report of the Panel of Enquiry into Shooting and
Angling, 1976-1979 (Medway Report).


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Introduction
Chaired by Lord Medway (5th Earl of Cranbrook), the Enquiry was
sponsored by the RSPCA as a result of pressure from its membership to
formulate definitive policies towards shooting and angling.
It comprised a number of leading scientists and two representatives
drawn from angling and shooting organisations.

The main findings of the Report in respect of fish, was that they are
capable of suffering. This merely confirmed what many involved in
animal welfare had suspected for some time: that fish feel pain.

The Report provided the impetus for the founding of the Pisces in
April 1981. No longer could opponents of angling be dismissed as
sentimental, emotionally motivated cranks.

Terms of Reference
"To enquire into practises relating to shooting and angling in the
United Kingdom, whether for the purpose of control, sport or feed,
which may involve cruelty, and to make recommendations as may appear
appropriate in relation to such practises".
Composition of the Panel (Section 1)
Chairman: Lord MEDWAY (5th Earl of Cranbrook), M.A., Ph.D., Zoologist
and country landowner.
Vice-Chairman: S.K. ELTRINGHAM, B.Sc., M.A., Ph.D., Lecturer in
Applied Biology, University of Cambridge.

J.W. ANDERTON, O.B.E., V.R.D., Director of W.A.G.B.I., BFSS member.

C.L. BOYLE, Lt. Col. (retd.), O.B.E., Vice President of the Fauna
Preservation Society.

M.J. DELANY, M.Sc., D.Sc., Professor of Environmental Science,
University of Bradford.

G.M. HUGHES, M.A. Ph.D., Sc.D., Professor of Zoology and Head of the
Research Unit for Comparative Animal Respiration, University of
Bristol.

D.A. ORTON, Organiser of the Angling Foundation.

R.J. ROBERTS, B.V.M.S., Ph.D., M.R.C.V.S., M.R.C.Path., F.R.S.E.,
Professor of Biology and Director of the Unit of Aquatic Pathobiology,
University of Stirling.

The Problem of Animal Suffering (Section 3)
The Report highlights the main difficulty:
"The dilemma of course, is that the incidence of pain can only be
verified beyond question in human subjects, because only they are
capable of reporting in words the sensations experienced." (para 26)
It notes:
"....evidence from anglers suggests that some believe their quarry to
be insensitive to pain...." (para 21) "....this belief is in many
cases evidently deduced from the comparatively primitive position of
fish in the vertebrate evolutionary scale...." (para 22)
However:
"....it is a common assumption (confirmed by scientific observation)
that a fish which has been hooked and escaped or one which has been
caught, landed and subsequently released, will tend to avoid an
immediate repetition of the experience...." (para 24)
"....among the vertebrate animals, particularly mammals, it is
possible to recognise the existence of behaviour patterns that appear
to be homologous with the non-verbal responses of human subjects known
to be suffering pain." (para 26)

After examining the problem it concludes:
"There may still be some people who will argue that we cannot prove
beyond question that any vertebrate other than man, feels pain. We,
however, conclude that if any do, then the evidence suggests that all
vertebrates (including fish), through the mediation of similar
neuropharmacological processes, experience similar sensations to a
greater or lesser degree in response to noxious stimuli." (para 57)
Discussion (Section 6)
Section 5, which describes the angling practises in the United
Kingdom, is followed by a section which outlines the Report's
findings. The observations and subsequent recommendations are formed
on the basis of the following assumptions and observations:
"While it may be impossible to prove utterly beyond question that any
non-animal organism is at any instant feeling pain, we believe that it
is reasonable for mankind to behave on the assumption that all
vertebrates are capable of suffering to some degree or another." (para
202)
"The apparent universality throughout vertebrates of the
neuropharmacological basis for the perception of painful (and
pleasurable) stimuli does not permit us to agree with those who would
recognise a difference in this function between 'warm-blooded' and
'cold-blooded' members." (para 202)

"....in relation to the 1876 Cruelty to Animals Act (see para 58) it
had been pointed out to us that this basic practice by which angling
is defined (para 134) if performed in a laboratory on unanaesthetised
fish, without licence, would very probably be in a contravention of
the Act." (para 252)

"Any hook causes tissue damage when it catches and thus, in medical
terms, inflicts an injury." (para 254)

"....the conditions of competitive fishing or specimen hunting
frequently demand that the fish be retained for a prolonged period (in
water) in a keep-net, and also examined, weighed and perhaps
photographed (in air) before ultimately being liberated. All such
procedures must increase the likelihood of injury to the fish." (para
259)

"The degree of trauma experienced by a fish out of water may not be
fully appreciated by anglers. The tissues of a fish, when it is
removed from water, are subject in air to pressures greatly reduced
and differing in nature from those they are subject to in water.
Consequently there are greatly altered changes in the various
peripheral systems affecting lymphatic and venous blood pressure and
respiration. Bleeding tends to occur from the gills and, instead of
dispersing, the blood coagulates and reduces the effective respiratory
surface." (para 262)

"More significant are the effects of desiccation and particularly of
handling on the skin and gills. The outer surface of the fish does not
consist of scales, as is commonly believed. Scales are located within
the dermis, or middle layer of the skin. Superficial to them is the
epidermis, with its mucus cover. The epidermis is a very delicate
transparent tissue which provides the waterproofing, i.e., an
essential part of the physiological control of fluid balances between
the fish and its environment. It is also the barrier between the fish
and the wide variety of disease-producing micro-organisms found in
water. Handling of fish, in a landing-net or by hand to remove hooks,
will almost certainly involve damage to this delicate layer. Severe
trauma is caused by holding a fish tightly in a dry cloth, which will
remove the epidermis from considerable areas of the body." (para 263)

"The epidermis is generally capable of rapid healing. If the damage is
severe, however, the outcome will be either osmotic breakdown, with
resultant circulatory failure, or extensive infection of the skin.
Both conditions usually result in ultimate death." (para 264)

"....prolonged playing of fish, particularly when they are returned to
the water subsequently, is to be deprecated. When teleost fish are
severely stressed and exercised to exhaustion, they make extensive use
of their 'white' muscle system. This differs from the red skeletal
muscle of higher vertebrates, in this it is anaerobic and, although
very efficient in the short term, when exhausted contains a great
accumulation of lactic acid during the elimination of which the muscle
remains in prolonged fatigue. A completely exhausted fish will thus be
almost unable to move for several hours after capture. During this
time it will be at risk to attack by predators or injury from its
inanimate environment." (para 265)

"Quick landing is necessary to avoid exhaustion on a scale injurious
to the fish's prospects of recovery, if the intention is to release it
alive after capture." (para 267)

Recommendations (Section 7)
The recommendations include:
"....where considerations of welfare are involved, all vertebrate
animals (i.e. mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish) should be
regarded as equally capable of suffering to some degree or another
without distinction between 'warm-blooded' and 'cold-blooded'
members." (para 286)
"It is suggested that every angler should review his appreciation of
the sport in the light of evidence presented on the perception of pain
(Section 3)." (para 301)

"The following practical recommendations are made:

(i) The use of double and treble hooks should be kept to a minimum.
These should be avoided entirely when the intention is to return the
catch alive to the water.

(ii) Fish that have swallowed the hook and those intended for food
should be killed humanely before any effort is made to unhook them.

(iii) All anglers should be equipped with, and use, disgorgers.

(iv) Employment of the pike-gag should take fully into account the
size of the fish for which it is used.

(v) Barbless hooks should be favoured.

(vi) Holding periods in keep-nets should be as brief as possible."
(para 303)

"....scientific research should be performed to investigate the
environment within a keep-net under the circumstances of normal use."
(para 303)

"....a code of practice should be instituted to cover all aspects of
handling fish out of water, and information on the effects on fish of
improper handling should be widely disseminated." (para 304)

"The use of vertebrates as live bait should be banned." (para 306)

[These recommendations form the existing RSPCA policies on angling.]
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Note: The reader is reminded that the Report also gave equal
consideration to the 'sport' of shooting. Although Pisces is opposed
to all forms of animal abuse, which by definition includes shooting,
for the purpose of this information sheet, we have extracted
information from the Report of relevance to angling only.
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BM Fish, London, WCIN 3XX
Tel: 01792 464 176

http://www.pisces.demon.co.uk/

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"If you would'nt talk to them in a bar, don't *uckin' vote for them"

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The Big Yin.

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In article , Franz Heymann
wrote:

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Pisces Information Sheet C

The best way to counter such threats is to join the Countryside Alliance
Campaign for angling.

http://www.gone-fishing.info/browsenews.php

Cheerio,

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