When people think of animal abuse for food, they automatically think of cows, pigs, or chickens. However, fish are among those that suffer the most in the process of being caught, farmed, and killed. It is a common misconception that fish have 3-second memory— a memory span that reboots every 3 seconds. However, fish are more intelligent than one may think, and the pain they feel definitely does not last a couple of seconds.
To begin, one must understand the difference between the two main methods of gathering fish: farm-raised and wild-caught. Farm-raised (a.k.a. aquaculture) means that the fish were commercially raised in large tanks or enclosures. On the other hand, wild-caught, true to its name, are caught in the wild by fisherman. Currently, aquafarming is on the rise, due to the cheaper alternative compared to real fishing and to the fact that certain species of fish are thinning out in the wild. According to The Guardian, by 2030, aquaculture is predicted to account for 60% of fish destined for our plates and it’s already more than half. This is a problem because the farmed fish are usually cramped in filthy tanks, many carrying parasites or diseases.
Thousands of fish are kept together in small enclosures.
The fish that are raised in these enclosures are treated very inhumanely and studies show that just like mammals and birds, fish also experience conscious pain. The fish in farms are graded, which is the sorting of fish into groups of similar sizes. This process can take a while, starving the fish, and causes a lot of injuries with the netting equipment. Also the fish are usually wild species, and therefore do not have enough space in tanks with thousands of other fish. This also brings up the problem between the different breeds as some may be predatory and eat others alive. Ultimately, the living situation in these farms causes a lot of stress among the marine animals and some are so horrendous that 40 percent of the fish die before farmers can kill and package them for food. Additionally, the process of actually killing the fish is commonly inhumane among farms as they may leave them to suffocate in open air, chill them alive, or cut into their gills—the most sensitive part of the body— while not stunned.
However, although fish farms are, for the most part, unethical, wild-caught fish may not be treated any better. To start, trillions of animals are pulled of the ocean every year. This is because for every one pound of fish caught, roughly 5 pounds of unintended marine species are caught and discarded as by-kill. The number of killed fish add up, emptying the oceans.