Requirement
10. Clean and cook a fish, and the badge provides for not catching one
Required Often forgotten
A fish you caught if you can; a fish you acquired if you cannot, cleaned and cooked the same way. Conditional on regulations and health concerns permitting. You are not required to eat it.
Notes and warnings
Warning. This requirement does NOT wait on requirement 9. If you cannot catch a fish to eat, the requirement itself tells you to acquire one and clean and cook that instead. A Scout who has not caught anything is not blocked here. That is the badge's own provision, not a concession from this site.
Note. The whole requirement is conditional on regulations and health concerns permitting, which is why requirement 7 matters before this one. And you are not required to eat the fish. That is stated in the requirement.
Where this step comes from
- Fishing Merit Badge Requirements (Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2025-12-31), Requirement 10 · States its own alternative (if you are unable to catch a fish for eating, acquire one, clean it and cook it), and makes the whole requirement conditional on regulations and health concerns permitting. Its note states that eating the fish is not required.