I'm quite certain this is junk science. Every time I try to put a worm on a hook, he immediately begins to squirm in an effort to avoid the barb. There's no doubt in my mind that they feel pain.
My guess is that these Norwegian "scientists" were paid by the fishing industry to conduct the study.
Well, I don't think the fishing industry in Norway fishes with worms; they probably use big nets and that sort of stuff.
To me, and I could be right, or wrong, it seems that probably some Greenie or Pest, er, PETA, up there squawked and moaned and carried on about little Norwegian lads taking a fishing-pole and going out to the nearest fjord to angle.
But then upon impartial review of the evidence, the eminently-reasonable Norwegian scientists studying the matter decided, no, the little kids weren't being cruel to animals.
It's not the squirming that bothers me. It is the screaming...
The worm is allergic to METAL........
"There's no doubt in my mind that they feel pain."
And yet you keep doing it. You unfeeling monster! </humor>