Gone fishin'...srsly?

I used to fish occasionally as a kid, usually when camping. While I lived in California, sometimes I went grunion running - yum!

I nearly always ate what I caught. But that is not fishing. When people say they like to fish on weekends, what they mean is: "I like to catch fish for the fun of catching them. Then I throw them back in the water."

Srsly?

Somehow I made it to middle age without realizing that most people who "fish" don't eat what they catch.

I'm not happy about this. Fish do feel pain just as we feel pain. If the hook cuts into a lip, they'll likely live. But if it cuts through the roof of the mouth, they'll suffer for a time then die.

The harm seems forgivable if a person is going to eat the fish and enjoy the benefit of the protein and other quality nutrients that make large brained life possible. But imposing such suffering upon another merely for the momentary thrill of catching something on a hook isn't good enough.

I blame religion. I blame the notion of "sacred human life" and "dominion over all."

Why must humankind serve as a monstrous nightmare to nearly every species upon the earth?