In the U.S, as in most countries, there are no laws which
protect fish from inhumane treatment. Many of us who are naturally sensitive to
the suffering of mammals find more difficulty empathizing with fish.
It comes
as a surprise to many that the pain receptors in fish are similar to those of
mammals. In other words, if you’ve ever stepped on a fishing hook and
experienced the shooting pain of having the hook drive deep into your flesh,
then you can begin to understand how a fish might feel when she is hooked by a
fishing line. Our pain receptors are similar, so we experience pain similarly.
Fish have the capacity for pain perception and
suffering.
According to world-renowned animal behaviorist Dr. Jonathan Balcombe, “fish ... recognize individual ‘shoal mates,’ acknowledge social
prestige, track relationships, eavesdrop on others, use tools, build complex
nests, and exhibit long-term memories.”
When fish are pulled from the water,
they begin to suffocate. Their gills often collapse, and their swim bladders
can rupture because of the sudden change in pressure. Fish are most often
killed by being hit on the head repeatedly, bleeding out, suffocating, or
freezing.
“It’s very standard on fish farms where really the technique
is just to haul them out of the water and to leave the fish to slowly
suffocate, slowly be crushed to death, and this can take hours”
-Louis Bollard, Open Philanthropy Institute
About half of the fish consumed globally
are farmed fish as opposed to wild-caught fish.[3]
Like the land-based factory farms, fish farms are often characterized by
overcrowding, disease, and pollution caused by high concentrations of excrement
and uneaten food. Pollution and disease also pose a threat to wild species, as
do the hundreds of thousands of fish who escape farms and threaten the genetic
diversity and survival of native species.
Modern fishing techniques don’t just
harm the fish intended to be caught. Globally, an estimated 7.3 million tons of
marine life is caught incidentally by fishing. This “bycatch” includes turtles,
dolphins and juvenile fish. For example, for every pound of shrimp caught by
nets dragged behind boats (or trawls) in the Gulf of Mexico, four pounds of
other species are dragged up with them. These animals die like the rest and
then are simply discarded.
Scientists predict that at our current rate of
fishing, all fished species will be annihilated within 50 years.
For more information about these fascinating and misunderstood beings, please visit www.fishfeel.org
[1]Brown, Culum (2004) Not just a pretty face New scientist, 2451: 42-43.
[2] Balcombe, Jonathan. 2010. Second Nature: the Inner Lives of Animals. Palgrave Macmillan: New York.
[3] Animal Welfare Institute. https://awionline.org/content/fish-farming
