Tinge of sadness

I CAN’T help but feel a tinge of sadness when I see pictures in newspapers of giant fish caught in fishermen’s nets and exhibited before cameras for the pride and satisfaction of the person who netted the monster.
By The Newsroom
Published 4th Jun 2012, 12:40 BST

Such a picture appeared in the Gazette (May 24). Apparently the hake had wandered into waters off Littlehampton because of the warm, sunny weather.

As you may have guessed, I don’t eat seafood myself, but many people do, and always have done throughout history.

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I have always baulked at the way live lobsters are plunged into boiling water, so that the flesh is soft and crimson when served in restaurants.

When we were young, we would collect winkles from the sea shore and my mother always assured us that these molluscs felt nothing when she boiled them, ready for us to eat. I always wondered then whether this was true, when they were plunged, squealing, into boiling water.

Even Jesus, with his disciples, caught fish in the Sea of Galilee, so I suppose there can’t be much wrong with it.

But fine specimens, like the hake pictured in the Gazette, should be free to swim in the warm waters, whether in the Atlantic Ocean, or off the Sussex coast, as I am sure this is what nature intended.

G. A. Harris

Armada Way

Littlehampton

Related topics:SussexJesus