By John Di Leonardo
Summer is full of animal rescue calls for my organization Humane Long Island. One of the most frequent calls is to rescue animals impaled by fishing hooks or ensnared by fishing lines. Sometimes the hooks are in the mouths of birds who are in too much pain to be baited and the animals fly off to starve while other times the hooks are down their throats, tearing through the innards. Still more times, lines are tightly wrapped around their legs, slowly amputating them.
These experiences are not unique to Long Island. Every year, millions of birds, turtles, and other animals suffer debilitating injuries after swallowing hooks or becoming entangled in fishing lines—including 300,000 whales and dolphins, 50 million sharks and rays, and 250,000 turtles. A 2022 study determined that enough fishing line is lost in the ocean each year to circle the Earth 18 times and that fishers lose over 25 million pots and traps along with nearly 14 billion longline hooks, posing a huge threat to marine animals. Another study published that same year found that 75 to 86% of the floating plastic mass in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear.
Acharya Tulsi Ji (Photo provided by: Arvind Vora)
Science has shown that fish, too, feel intense pain, shock, and suffocation when hooked and removed from the water, with researchers at the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation finding that as many as 43% of fish released after anglers caught them died within six days. My friend Mary Finelli, President of Fish Feel has written, "Fishing is even crueler than hunting since, instead of the intent being to instantaneously kill, fishing entails ‘playing’ the victim: fighting with the fish like hunting, it is not a sport, since fish are unwilling participants. All of the nutrients derived from fish can be obtained more humanely, healthfully and environmentally responsibly from plant sources. Needlessly harming an animal—for fun or food or any other reason—is animal abuse."
Not only is plant-based protein plentiful in the 21st century, but even traditional outdoor bonding activities like fishing can easily be replaced by trash-fishing—a humane and environmentally responsible alternative to traditional fishing that uses magnets, grappling hooks, trash-pickers, and buckets to clean our waterways and protect our ecosystems rather than harm them. While Humane Long Island rescues countless birds suffering from debilitating fishing injuries every year, the average person can save two hundred animals annually themselves by simply leaving animals off their plate.
For this week’s Anuvrat, please remember that fish feel pain and want to live just as much as any other animal and make a small vow to leave fish and other animals off your plate. If you're already vegan, consider taking your not-yet-vegan friends trash-fishing and show them how easy it is to live life a little kinder.
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John Di Leonardo is the founding director of Humane Long Island. He was previously the Senior Manager of Grassroots Campaigns and Animals in Entertainment Campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). He has a Master's degree in Anthrozoology from Canisius College. He also earned a graduate certificate in Jain Studies from the International School of Jain Studies (ISJS) in India. John can be reached at [email protected].
