[mgalka]

"shoved his arms into the water up to his shoulders. With his chest tightly pressed to the side of the boat, he kept his hands steady, a few inches apart. When a fish swam between his hands, he smashed them shut, digging his fingernails into the rough scales"

Can't imagine how long this took. In the middle of the ocean, most of the time you don't even see any fish at the surface. How long do you have to wait for one to swim right between your arms?

[Turing_Machine]

Dangling things attract fish. If he was wiggling his fingers, fish might well come to investigate.

Tickling trout is a well-established (though generally highly illegal) freshwater fishing method.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trout_tickling

[lordnacho]

Why would that be illegal? You'd think it's the taking that's illegal, not the method?

[wahnfrieden]

I think because it's a way of concealing poaching (no artifacts besides your bare hands) so it's extra harshly punished, but it's just my guess.

[scott_karana]

Possible that it's not considered "fair chase"? In North America, a lot of conservation ethics are hard-codified into law.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_chase