If you were asked to describe ethical angling, how would you answer? How about: “An ethical angler always obeys all fishing regulations.” Fishing legally is certainly ethical behavior, but there’s more. How about: “An ethical angler respects the fish he’s catching and the environment that he’s sharing with the fish.” Examples of this type of behavior might include the gentle handling of fish that are to be released, being careful to avoid damaging fragile sea grasses while boating, and being diligent about not tossing garbage (including old fishing line) overboard. These are more good examples of ethical angling practices, but we probably need to add another criterion. How about: “An ethical angler respects the other anglers with whom he shares the water by being careful to not compromise their enjoyment of their sport by his own actions.” Examples of respecting other anglers could include not running past other fishermen so closely that the fish they’re stalking are spooked, or not jumping in ahead of a boat that’s fishing along a shoreline. That’s good stuff too, and there are probably many more examples that could be added to our rapidly-growing definition.

Here’s a quote from the FWC publication “Fishing Lines,” which takes a different approach to the definition of ethical angling: “Fishing ethics are the things anglers do when they are unobserved. It’s what governs his or her impulses when no one is looking. In short, fishing ethics is conscience.” The FWC writers did a good job of concisely defining an intangible concept.