The Angler in the Environment: Social, Economic, Biological, and Ethical Dimensions

2011 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Animal Rights ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Ethical Challenge ◽  
Recreational Fishing ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Catch And Release ◽  
Individual Fish ◽  
Recreational Angling ◽  
The Individual

<i>Abstract</i>.—Ever since fishing was called recreational fishing, a cruelty charge has hovered around somewhere in the background. In recent times, however, it has made it to the fore substantiated by anthropomorphic reasoning and fuelled by high-visibility papers claiming that fish can feel pain and suffer. Because some segments of the public perceive the infliction of these mental states to fish as abhorrent and not outweighing the costs imposed on the individual fish by appropriate benefits to the human, recreational fishing is coming under attack on moral grounds. Other challenges have also emerged that do not center on the issue of whether fish are sentient or not. In this paper, we describe five of the most prevalent moral challenges to recreational angling, two of which—animal welfare and wilderness-centered perspectives—can offer a constructive outlook by calling upon improved treatment of individual fish (animal welfare) and generally more sustainable management (wilderness perspective). In contrast, if one subscribes to animal liberation or animal rights philosophies, the outlook for recreational fishing is generally negative: it has to stop. A final challenge is associated with the motivations of anglers. The moral argument there is that the activity is carried out largely for angler pleasure rather than as a means of securing survival. The outlook of this ethical challenge sometimes leans towards only accepting one form of recreational fishing: catching, killing, and eating. Voluntary catch-and-release fishing and practices such as tournament fishing with a strict total catch-and-release policy would then not be ethically permissible. In this paper, we highlight the origin and background of each of the five ethical challenges and explain their implications for recreational fishing.

The Angler in the Environment: Social, Economic, Biological, and Ethical Dimensions

2011 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Rights ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Recreational Fishing ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Nature Protection ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Catch And Release ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
Recreational Fisher ◽  
Fishing Practices

<i>Abstract</i>.—In this article, we examine the different values and cultural representations of catch-and-release fishing and of human–animal relations in general. The focus is on various images of good and ethical recreational fishing practices, particularly in the context of catch-and-release fishing in Finland. The material consists of scientific articles and newspaper articles and policy documents related to fishing and human–wildlife relations. Despite the fact that modern societies show increasing interest in animal rights—often challenging traditional practices like hunting—animal welfare and nature protection groups seem to support the traditional “northern subsistence culture” in the Finnish case of recreational fishing. The context of traditional human–nature relations overrides modern human–animal relations. However, the complexity and diversity of recreational fisher groups and public debate are increasing. This calls for clarification of the ambiguous terminology of catch-and-release fishing as well as for new policy institutions where different views and values could be governed.

The Angler in the Environment: Social, Economic, Biological, and Ethical Dimensions

2011 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Fisheries Management ◽  
Animal Rights ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Human Dimensions ◽  
Fish Stock ◽  
Recreational Fishing ◽  
Commercial Fishing ◽  
Recreational Fisheries ◽  
Recreational Angling ◽  
Fisheries Sustainability

<i>Abstract</i> .—There is a need to better understand the perspectives of various recreational fishing stakeholder groups regarding key issues related to fisheries sustainability. To provide a first snapshot and to inform future human dimension studies in this area, we distributed a Web-based open-access survey to fisheries researchers, fisheries managers, and anglers in North America. Attitudes of these respondents towards issues such as overharvest, impacts of catch and release, recreational fisheries management, and research priorities for the future were assessed. We found similar opinions and perspectives by the responding recreational anglers, managers, and researchers on a number of issues, such as the perceived impact of commercial fishing contributing to fish stock declines, the perceived importance of using and promoting gear that minimizes stress and injury to individual fish when fish are to be released, and the belief that conflicts among stakeholders is growing as is the global anti-fishing movement based on animal rights thinking. Differences among responding groups included that researchers tended to be more concerned than anglers and managers with the potential of recreational angling contributing to fish stock declines. Responding anglers were also less content with their involvement in the fisheries management process than were responding managers and researchers, and these anglers also indicated a greater desire for more human dimensions research on understanding angler attitudes and behavior than was evident for responding managers and researchers. This preliminary survey revealed some variation in attitudes among recreational fisheries stakeholders. However, due to lack of random sampling, the study results cannot be extrapolated to the population level. We nevertheless conclude that improved communication and better understanding about the different perspectives among fisheries researchers, managers, and anglers and intrasectorally among different angling groups are needed, particularly when addressing contentious issues of relevance for the entire recreational fishing sector.

Ethical challenges when using coercion in mental healthcare: A systematic literature review

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marit Helene Hem ◽  
Elisabeth Gjerberg ◽  
Tonje Lossius Husum ◽  
Reidar Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Patient Autonomy ◽  
Moral Distress ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Healthcare Personnel ◽  
Ethical Challenge ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Healthcare It

Background: To better understand the kinds of ethical challenges that emerge when using coercion in mental healthcare, and the importance of these ethical challenges, this article presents a systematic review of scientific literature. Methods: A systematic search in the databases MEDLINE, PsychInfo, Cinahl, Sociological Abstracts and Web of Knowledge was carried out. The search terms derived from the population, intervention, comparison/setting and outcome. A total of 22 studies were included. Ethical considerations: The review is conducted according to the Vancouver Protocol. Results: There are few studies that study ethical challenges when using coercion in an explicit way. However, promoting the patient’s best interest is the most important justification for coercion. Patient autonomy is a fundamental challenge facing any use of coercion, and some kind of autonomy infringement is a key aspect of the concept of coercion. The concepts of coercion and autonomy and the relations between them are very complex. When coercion is used, a primary ethical challenge is to assess the balance between promoting good (beneficence) and inflicting harm (maleficence). In the included studies, findings explicitly related to justice are few. Some studies focus on moral distress experienced by the healthcare professionals using coercion. Conclusion: There is a lack of literature explicitly addressing ethical challenges related to the use of coercion in mental healthcare. It is essential for healthcare personnel to develop a strong awareness of which ethical challenges they face in connection with the use of coercion, as well as challenges related to justice. How to address ethical challenges in ways that prevent illegitimate paternalism and strengthen beneficent treatment and care and trust in connection with the use of coercion is a ‘clinical must’. By developing a more refined and rich language describing ethical challenges, clinicians may be better equipped to prevent coercion and the accompanying moral distress.

Intensive care nurses’ experiences of Covid-19 care: A practical and ethical challenge – a qualitative descriptive design

2021 ◽  
pp. 205715852110627
Author(s):  
Anna-Lena Stenlund ◽  
Gunilla Strandberg
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Ethical Challenge ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Intensive Care Nurses ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
Heavy Burden ◽  
New Treatment

The Covid-19 pandemic has generated new experiences of intensive care. It has entailed new working methods, treatment strategies, and ethical dilemmas. The aim of this study was to describe intensive care nurses’ experiences of Covid-19 care and its ethical challenges. Data collection consisted of 11 individual semi-structured interviews and a qualitative content analysis was used. The COREQ checklist was followed. Three main themes emerged: to meet Covid-19 patients’ needs for specifically tailored intensive care; to have a changed approach to the excluded relatives is unethical, but defensible; and to strive to protect ethical values needs to be considered as good enough. In conclusion, ICU nurses shouldered a heavy burden in taking responsibility for the safety of these patients, continuously learning about new treatment strategies. Caring for Covid-19 patients was to strive to make the best of the situation.

Sub-lethal responses of mahseer (Tor khudree) to catch-and-release recreational angling

2019 ◽  
Vol 211 ◽  
pp. 231-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon D. Bower ◽  
Neethi Mahesh ◽  
Rajeev Raghavan ◽  
Andy J. Danylchuk ◽  
Steven J. Cooke
Keyword(s):  
Catch And Release ◽  
Recreational Angling

scholarly journals Putting the Horse Before the Cart: the Ethical Case for Animal Patient Values in EBVM

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Mills
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Surgical Intervention ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Therapeutic Benefit ◽  
Natural Behaviour ◽  
Do No Harm ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
Animal Welfare Science ◽  
Patient Values ◽  
The Individual

<p>Patient values represents one of the three cornerstones of contemporary human EBM definitions, and are considered vital to both protect the patient from the tyranny of unsuitable treatment and to ensure the individual is central in clinical decisions. They comprise “unique preferences, concerns and expectations of each patient” (Sackett et al 1996). By stark contrast, EBVM replaces individual patient values with “circumstances of each patient, and the circumstances and values of the owner/carer” (CEVM 2015). There is a danger that in such a conception, animal welfare may not be prioritised in EBVM practice.</p><p>Animal patients are not philosophically or scientifically likely to possess the complex values of humans, but it is conceivable that they possess ‘values’ in the context of veterinary interventions, such as preferences, wants, needs and desires; indeed these underlie much animal welfare science. They may be basic, such as the avoidance of suffering and a desire to continue life, or more complex, such as a desire to maximise pleasure or natural behaviour. They are likely to be individual and dynamic. They may be defined as the unique dynamic mental preference state of an animal during the period of veterinary medical or surgical intervention, including avoidance of suffering and maximisation of health and pleasure.</p><p>EBVM’s current consideration of patient values only extends to demonstrating effectiveness, or not, of an intervention for an animal. Any intervention involves some physical or mental welfare compromise for animal patients, which may be severe; EBVM aims to ensure this harm 'cost' is consistently outweighed by therapeutic 'benefit'. However, in current EBVM the evidence is often weak, incomplete, contradictory, fuzzy, non-existent or inapplicable, meaning there is a significant risk of causing harm to the patient’s welfare when practising EBVM. This stands in opposition to a veterinary surgeon’s oath and ethical imperative to do no harm, and to do the best for her patients’ welfare (RCVS 2015).</p><p>At what point does the risk become ethically unacceptable? The answer comprises both philosophical considerations, and empirical, critically anthropomorphic attributions of values to animals. Such conceptions and techniques are not currently explicitly expounded in EBVM research or practice. Rather than being marginalised or excluded from definitions of EBVM, this presentation will argue that patient values should be the central, primary and overriding consideration in both its practice and research if EBVM is to be an ethically acceptable pursuit.</p><br /> <img src="https://www.veterinaryevidence.org/rcvskmod/icons/oa-icon.jpg" alt="Open Access" />

scholarly journals Humane Legal Protection of Homeless Animals

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-276
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Zębek
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Animal Rights ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
Animal Shelters ◽  
Animal Protection ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Protection Legislation ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Inspection Data

Animal rights at the international level have been defined in the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare, which has become a guiding principle for many EU countries in shaping animal protection legislation. The subject of this article is the humane protection of homeless animals, which is the responsibility of the municipality in terms of maintaining cleanliness and order. The study assumes that by carrying out tasks regarding the protection of animals from homelessness, municipalities contribute to the effective protection of animals by providing them with appropriate care. The analysis found that the provisions of the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare have been fully incorporated into Polish legislation. However, the effectiveness of the provisions on the protection of homeless animals executed by municipalities is not entirely satisfactory as evidenced by the post-inspection data and selected jurisprudence. In order to improve this state of affairs, the following de lege ferenda postulates were formulated, which in part are also guidelines of the Supreme Audit Office extending the catalog of activities in municipal homeless animal protection programs, introducing the requirement to inspect animal shelters by municipalities, changing the location requirements of animal shelters and also clarifying sanitary requirements concerning the conditions in which animals live in to improve their welfare. The above changes in legislation may contribute to more efficient humane protection of homeless animals in Poland and may serve as an example for other EU countries.

scholarly journals Implementation of the Provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals into Ukrainian Legislation: Some Theoretical and Applied Aspects

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-45
Author(s):  
Nadiia Kobetska ◽  
Lesia Danyliuk
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Animal Rights ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
European Convention ◽  
General Nature ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Legal Representation ◽  
The Law ◽  
European Standards ◽  
Legal Mechanism

European integration processes in Ukraine have led to the approximation of national legislation to European standards, including pet handling. The first and currently the only ratified European convention in Ukraine on protection and ensuring animal welfare is the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals. The article describes the major doctrinal, legislative and practical aspects of implementing this Convention into Ukrainian law. The legal regulation of the humane treatment of domestic animals in Ukraine is based on the Law of Ukraine on the protection of animals from cruel treatment, its provisions being of a general nature, and detailed solutions are found in other laws and regulations. Detailed rules for dealing with pets are determined by municipalities and they are implemented in the relevant administrative and territorial units. The concept of “animal rights”, despite its proclamation in the preamble to the Law of Ukraine on the protection of animals from cruel treatment, has no formal legal representation and reflection in Ukrainian legislation. Nevertheless, Ukrainian legal academic doctrine, legislative process and law enforcement practice are currently embodying the concept of animal welfare. The development and implementation of a coherent legal mechanism for pet handling is the major contributing factor in achieving pet welfare, therefore Ukraine needs a clear strategy to improve its legal regulation.

scholarly journals CULTURAL IDENTITY, TRADITION, AND THE RITUAL KILLING OF BULLS – A NOTE ON A RECENT DECISION OF THE FRENCH CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL ON THE LEGALITY OF BULLFIGHTING

Obiter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Peté ◽  
Angela Crocker
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Animal Rights ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Public Controversy ◽  
Legal Challenge ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
The Republic

In a recent two-part article in this journal, the authors of this note analysed the controversy surrounding the ritual bull-killing which takes place during the Ukweshwama “first fruits” ceremony held each year in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. While much of the Ukweshwama ceremony is uncontroversial, the ritual killing of a bull by young Zulu warriors with their bare hands attracted strong opposition from certain animal-rights groups, which resulted in legal action and public controversy. The authors attempted to disentangle the different legal, historical, political and philosophical strands which combined to make up a complex story about the place of ancient rituals in the modern world, particularly those involving animal sacrifice. They also attempted to situate the controversy around the Ukweshwama bull-killing ritual within a contemporary global context, by comparing and contrasting the Zulu bull-killing ceremony on the one hand, and Spanish bullfighting on the other. The purpose of the present note is to report on recent developments in what is a global debate on the place of ancient rituals which involve the ritual killing of animals, within modern constitutional democracies. In particular, this note will examine and discuss the outcome of a recent legal challenge brought before the Constitutional Council of the Republic of France by certain animal-welfare groups in that country. The challenge was directed at bringing an end to a legal exception which operates in certain parts of the country – that is, those with an uninterrupted local tradition of bullfighting – excluding bullfighting from the provisions of animal-welfare legislation. The legal, political and cultural issues which arise as a result of this legal challenge are of relevance to those in South Africa who are concerned, one way or the other, about the future of the annual Ukweshwama bull-killing ritual in KwaZulu-Natal. Like it or not, although the bull-killing rituals which take place in the South of France and in KwaZulu-Natal South Africa are very different, the similarities between the rituals and their impact on broader society (legally, politically and culturally), are such that they cannot be ignored. The authors make a similar point in relation to the links between Spanish bullfighting and the Ukweshwama bull-killing ritual.

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