I was both delighted and disturbed by Larry Parnass’ “Travels with Larry” article (“A river in time,” Dec. 3-4), about his return visit to Jared Fournier 21 years after having profiled him as a child, and the accompanying reprint of the original 1995 article.
Delighted because I love Larry’s writing — it’s the best kind of journalism, both clear and eloquent.
Disturbed because of their celebration of fishing. Recreational fishing is a widely practiced and even admired activity, and fish are so unlike us, in looks and behavior and habitat, that it’s hard to get our heads around the reality of this “sport.”
Neuroscientists are divided on the question of whether fish feel pain in the same way we do, but they can certainly experience distress and shock. A fish’s mouth performs the dual function of lips and fingers, so having a hook tearing into it is unpleasant to say the least.
The thrill of the catch, so vividly captured in the articles, is not so thrilling for the fish. Even catch-and-release does it no favors. Pulling a fish out of the water produces a reaction similar to our own sensation of drowning — the angling equivalent of waterboarding.
The article’s reference to a fisherman’s study of “the wiles of fish and ways to outwit them” sums up for me the fantasy-life that surrounds the culture of fishing. Where’s the satisfaction in being smarter than a fish?
Fishing, they say, is relaxing and meditative, as well as a source of generational bonding — all of them worthy goals. But there are better ways of achieving them than the willful torture of a sentient living creature.
Chris Rohmann
Florence