Won't somebody please think of how this affects the cats!!
http://tiny.cc/cjdkzz

Mr Trumpster,

Cats are one of the most destructive feral animals there is. In my area they are wiping out the Blue Tongue Lizards, not to mention the native bird population. Gee, is your Donald a cat? A destructive feral animal, me thinks so. There should be a cat eradication program!

Went out for a relaxing mornings fishing on the bay with the lads, quite time, was hoping to land a couple of Brim for the pan. Nothing was biting, rather boring, got it on video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRJd1f8s4bU&t=76s

No participants in any activity will ever admit let alone even attempt to see any negative aspects of their pursuits.
That's normal but it still does not prevent negative outcomes. "Recreational" Fishing is one of the more damaging to the waterways & seas. In some areas such as the GBR it out-strips commercial activities since commercial fishing has been rolled back substantially.
The numbers of fish taken home is often less than the number of fish left to die because of being undersized or the wrong fish etc. Fishers don't see what's going on below the surface & I suspect most don't even give it a second thought.
There's much talk & rightly so about excessive fire power in the gun debates yet no mention ever about "recreational" fishing gear. Some of the fishing gear is akin to heavy artillery on land.
All I'm saying is please be more considerate & start with using barbless hooks & support the ban for barbed hooks !

“Recreational" Fishing is one of the more damaging to the waterways & seas. In some areas such as the GBR it out-strips commercial activities since commercial fishing has been rolled back substantially”.

Is there any proof of this?

“The numbers of fish taken home is often less than the number of fish left to die because of being undersized or the wrong fish etc.”

Is there any proof of this?

Just as “No participants in any activity will ever admit let alone even attempt to see any negative aspects of their pursuits”, neither will those with a pet hobby-horse let up.

I suggest that, if this situation was really as dire as claimed, our increasingly tyrannical governments would have no trouble in putting a stop to it.

It makes sense to use barb-less hooks in places where there is a high chance of an undersized catch. Maybe townsfolk can sell low priced barb-less hooks on card tables at fishing spots to help with this. Hopefully people act responsibly rather than having to create authoritarian laws to manage behavior. Many people are perhaps too lazy to attach a different hook to their line, or don't know how. At fishing spots you see a lot of fish dying on the ground or in the water.

There are too many people in the world, from too many cultures, all wanting to do their own thing, and not wanting to listen to anyone else, creating one big pile of lifeless mud