Fishing is a sport that can be practised in both sweet water rivers and the sea. Fishing is very popular in many regions in Italy and promoted through various clubs of fishing enthusiasts.

Sport fishing is divided into:
• Fishing at the surface
• Fishing while free diving

Both categories are united in the Italian sportive federation FIPSAS (‘Federazione Italiana Pesca Sportiva e Attività Subacquee’ - Italian Federation of Sport Fishing and Diving Activities). The ethics of sport fishing puts the one who is practicing it on equal terms with his prey. The one practicing sport fishing in its authenticity, does not set as the only target the capture of the prey to feed from it, but he looks for the challenge of the mere capturing; the ‘No-Kill’ and the ‘Catch & Release’ practices, which become increasingly popular, confirm this tendency.

The “No-Kill” is a particular regulation adopted specifically to the so called “salmonoid waters” and provides that each single captured fish has to be released again into the water. The ‘Catch & Release’ practice defines the complexity of these procedures in continuous evolution that, adopted by the fisher at the surface, favour the survival of the captured and released fish. The continuous evolution of these procedures is dictated by the goodwill to guarantee the survival of the fish; such guarantee is currently missing, as a non well-defined percentage of the capture, may inflict injuries to the fish that may lead to death as the fish may no longer feed. As much as fishing while free diving is concerned: this activity permits the so called "Catch & Release", that being the possibility to avoid first of all the capture of prey that has no gastronomic or venatic value and also allowing the capture only in defined cases.

The true sport fisherman respects the laws that define his discipline (minimum sizes, prohibition to fish those in danger of extinction etc.) as well as nature itself. And in fact, for many sport fishermen, the environment where their passionate sport takes place, plays a fundamental role, sometimes a much more decisive one than the quantity of the captured fish. Furthermore, there are certain tactics in the various techniques of sport fishing, which allow to select in advance the prey to be captured, avoiding indiscriminate and undersized captures: for instance the dimensions of the hooks, the bait type and fishing while free diving gives the possibility to see the prey before pulling the trigger, in order to evaluate the species and its size. In any case, the sport fisherman does not get any economic profit out of his fishing and does not capture prey he will not feed on, and thus he integrates himself into the food chain that connects all living creatures.