EDMONTON — A fish-out-of-water tale at Edmonton’s annual Capital Ex fair has some crying foul.
A new pavilion this year that’s been popular with the kids features an outdoor fishing pond with real trout. Participants are each given up to 15 minutes to try and catch one with a fishing rod and hook. The fish are then returned to the pond.
Capital Ex employee Matthew Zmyndak says he doesn’t believe the activity belongs at the exhibition.
“They are just constantly being caught and it is kind of cruel,” he says, adding that one of his co-workers counted four dead fish during a six-hour shift.
“It is the same fish over and over and the casualties are replaced every night. Some of them, they flip away and they break the line and you can still see the little foam bait stuck in their mouth.
“Being cruel to animals shouldn’t be promoted to children.”
However, Northlands president Ken Knowles says he doesn’t see the harm, noting that the fish farm operator who supplies the trout replaces them every four days.
“Fish are like humans,” Knowles suggests. “If you burn your finger once you’re probably not going to do it twice and I would think these fish are smart enough that if they are caught a couple times, they aren’t going to go by the hook again.”
Fairgoers appear to see both sides of the argument.
“It is basically just catch and release and there are a lot worse things going on in the world than that,” says Teg Turgeon.
But one fishing enthusiast says he can see why some may have an issue with the attraction.
“They don’t get much time to heal up,” says James Kartz.