The Dutch parliament (Tweede Kamer) has voted down a proposal by the animal rights Party for the Animals (Partij voor de Dieren) that would have made the Netherlands the first country in the world to impose a national ban on barbed fishing hooks. MP Kostic had argued that barbed hooks cause "serious and unnecessary animal suffering" because they are harder to remove from fish mouths and cause greater injury than barbless alternatives, which she noted are widely available. A parliamentary majority sided with the sport fishing sector, which had warned that such a ban would isolate the Netherlands with equipment standards found nowhere else and would reduce catches by limiting the types of bait that can be used.