THE research into whether fish feel pain undertaken by Dr Sneddon at Edinburgh University and cited by Animal Aid as evidence that fishing should be banned appears to have been carried out from a rather anthropomorphic point of view.

That is to say that the basis of the research is the premise that, in reacting to applied stimuli, fish are experiencing what we ourselves would experience given similar stimuli.

However, research by Professor James D Rose, of the Department of Zoology and Physiology at the University of Wyoming, USA, recently published in Reviews in Fisheries Science, makes it clear that this is not the case.

His central argument is summed up like this: "Awareness of pain in humans depends on functions of specific regions of cerebral cortex and fish lack these essential brain regions or any functional equivalent, making it untenable that they can experience pain."

Richard Mountford would do well to read Professor Rose's erudite report, but I doubt if he will bother seeing that Dr Sneddon's findings fit so well with the entrenched views of his organisation and its fellow travellers.

As for Michael Foster, words fail me! Fishermen, shooters and hunters - we all partake in country sports and we should be sticking together.

United we stand, divided we fall and if Mr Foster wants to continue to enjoy his fishing he ought to acknowledge that fact and stand alongside the rest of us in total opposition to a ban on any of them.

KEN AINGE, Kidderminster.