The other day, on a walk by the East River, I came across a man fishing from the promenade. There are usually several fishermen on any given day. As I approached, I noticed a small object in the middle of the walkway, and when I was close enough I saw that it was a fish which appeared to be dead. Just then, maybe because he saw me coming and the fish was in my path, the man turned, scooped up the fish, and tossed it into the grass nearby.

The fish was maybe 5” long, too small I suppose for the fisherman to bother keeping. But instead of releasing it back into the river, he’d left it to suffocate on the pavement and then thrown it in the grass.

In the grand scheme of things this man kills very few fish. Still, I felt sad seeing this one little animal who had been alive and swimming shortly before, and who had certainly suffered greatly between then and when I happened upon him or her. It made me think about the millions of individual animals killed every single day by the fishing industry.