PaddyT wrote:All good points , fishing is a "blood sport" if its C&R or otherwise but a lot of species have excellent survival rates if done properly and the survival rate of a dead fish on deck is exactly zero-so - will still release a lot of certain fish- will kill quite a lot too, I mainly use lures and techniques that avoid guthooking fish but as you say some of the released fish will die, would still rather get out for a fish than sit on a fricken beach and stare at the waves!
Survival rates are dependent on a whole lot of stuff, some of which is, and some of which isn't within your control. I have no qualms about brain spiking a fish and slipping it into an ice sluury if I'm going to eat it.
Depending on the species and depth of water, a lightly hooked fish that is quickly and carefully released has a reasonable chance of survival, so releasing undersized fish is legitimate and ethical. Deliberately setting out to catch and release is totally legal, but it doesn't align with my ethical/moral compass any more.
People often justify catch and release fishing by saying that they are doing the fishery a favour by not taking those fish out of the population. Honestly, they'd do the fishery a bigger favour by not drawing on it all. It's kind of (sort of) like people that claim their primary motivation for hunting is to control feral animals, but are very selective about what they shoot, get the s**ts on when government agencies want to implement intensive cull programs that might knock the local population down, or pissed off when farmers realise those pesky goats are actually worth something and start rounding them up and stopping/limiting hunters from shooting what has now become livestock to many farmers. People just need to be realistic about the ramifications of their actions, be upfront and accountable, and not use hypocritical arguments to defend their choices.
If you get a big buzz out of catching fish your not going to eat, why not target some of the introduced freshwater species that are over abundant and pull hard?