Fish poaching on Lake Maggiore: When only the missing paperwork becomes the offence

In the Italian waters of Lake Maggiore, the Polizia Provinciale di Varese caught a 57-year-old man from Ticino hauling in his nets at night.

Around one and a half kilometres of so-called « reti volanti » had caught about fifty fish, including several whitefish, weighing a good ten kilos and worth an estimated one thousand euros. The boat, nets and catch were confiscated, and the man was referred to the Varese public prosecutor for fish poaching.

The offence is the missing paperwork, not the death of fifty animals

What is remarkable is what the accusation actually hinges on: not the killing of the animals, but the missing permit. Anyone who obtains the appropriate licence may have those very same fifty fish suffocated entirely legally. Fish are sentient vertebrates — they feel pain, fear and stress. Whether a person hauls them out of the water with or without an official stamp changes nothing about their suffering.

Recreational fishing and recreational hunting follow the same logic

We know this pattern from recreational hunting: a leisure activity centred on killing animals is glorified as a harmless tradition and even promoted at trade fairs as an attractive hobby. Our petition « No hunting, fishing and animal fairs at the Umwelt Arena Spreitenbach » is directed precisely against this. The fact that it is, of all things, a missing form that draws the line between permitted and punishable exposes the whole construction.

In Italy, the perpetrator at least faces imprisonment or a fine. How half-heartedly Swiss justice punishes poaching by comparison is shown by the case of « 300 francs for a female wolf »: a protected animal killed, dismissed as a trifle.

That Council of States member Daniel Jositsch wants to enshrine the protection of life for fish too in the Animal Welfare Act is long overdue. As long as a fish's life counts for almost nothing legally, the only limit that truly matters remains a piece of paper. More on this in the category animal rights.