Christine Roberts (Letters, August 23) does the same as many other animal rights supporters by selectively quoting from research papers.

By a simple statement she hopes to persuade others she is correct. In this instance she is not.

Although research from the Roslin Institute indicates that fish possess nociceptors they do not have the central cortex capability of processing those stimuli as pain.

Fish eat snails in their shells and hard-shelled crustacea as well as invertebrates with exoskeletons. If they experienced pain through nociception they would starve, because they would be unable to eat.

James Rose, a professor at Wyoming University, said the paper published by the Roslin Institute and Drs Victoria Braithwaite and Michael Gentle of Edinburgh University's biology institute, is "deeply flawed and does not provide any legitimate evidence that trout are capable of feeling pain".

Ms Roberts' keenness to prevent angling overshadows what should be her primary concern; that of birds reported as tangled in fishing line.

Research by angling organisations and the Environment Agency shows this can be a problem where birds are fed by the public. The answer is either to ask the public not to feed the birds or to restrict the feeding area available.

If the fishing is not controlled by a local angling organisation then the university should consider having it controlled in this way because the incidence of entanglements on controlled waters is negligible compared with uncontrolled waters.

On waters which I control there has not been an incident of entanglement for 18 years, so Paul Anderson's statement is also wrong.

Michael Heylin,

Secretary,

Specialist Anglers' Alliance,

Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.

Updated: 09:41 Friday, September 03, 2004