Eating fish is fine
Because fish don't feel
It's a sad fact that fish do, as far as we can understand, feel pain (why wouldn't they?). It's particularly sad because they are hands down, by a huge margin, the most tortured and abused creatures on the planet.
Pain has always been difficult to quantify even in humans, but scientific studies have concluded that fish do feel it in some form. Even without science though it only takes a little common sense to come to the same conclusion ourselves. Pain is a vital tool in the evolution and survival of all animals, and any who lived without the desire to avoid pain wouldn't last very long at all. Pain is what gives us the impetus to stay safe, stay alive, flee
danger and keep out of harm's way, thus enabling us to survive long enough to pass on our genes through reproduction. Why would this be any different just because the animal lives in water?
Pain has always been difficult to quantify even in humans, but scientific studies have concluded that fish do feel it in some form. Even without science though it only takes a little common sense to come to the same conclusion ourselves. Pain is a vital tool in the evolution and survival of all animals, and any who lived without the desire to avoid pain wouldn't last very long at all. Pain is what gives us the impetus to stay safe, stay alive, flee
danger and keep out of harm's way, thus enabling us to survive long enough to pass on our genes through reproduction. Why would this be any different just because the animal lives in water?
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Fish posses two unfortunate traits that make them an easy target for suffering at the hands of humans.
One is that their suffering is done in silence, the other that they look so incredibly different from us.
Consider for a moment if fish were hauled from the water amid howls of pain as they desperately tried to escape, or if they wailed desperately on the riverbank as they hopelessly gasped and suffocated.
Consider if fish, rather than being scaled and limbless, looked more like tiny versions of us. That they still had the same intelligence, behaviours and instincts (and the same tasting flesh) but instead of looking the way they do they resembled tiny versions of humans. If they did, would people be so quick to stick hooks in their faces and haul them from the water? To beat them to death? To casually watch them writhe in desperation as they slowly suffocate? To eat their flesh? And to consider these actions part of a relaxing pastime?
Most people probably would not, but because they look so incredibly different from us we instead feel nothing as we hurt and abuse them at will
One is that their suffering is done in silence, the other that they look so incredibly different from us.
Consider for a moment if fish were hauled from the water amid howls of pain as they desperately tried to escape, or if they wailed desperately on the riverbank as they hopelessly gasped and suffocated.
Consider if fish, rather than being scaled and limbless, looked more like tiny versions of us. That they still had the same intelligence, behaviours and instincts (and the same tasting flesh) but instead of looking the way they do they resembled tiny versions of humans. If they did, would people be so quick to stick hooks in their faces and haul them from the water? To beat them to death? To casually watch them writhe in desperation as they slowly suffocate? To eat their flesh? And to consider these actions part of a relaxing pastime?
Most people probably would not, but because they look so incredibly different from us we instead feel nothing as we hurt and abuse them at will
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For some science on fish pain this article is well worth a look. Plus further reading here and here.
There's also some interesting stuff on fish intelligence here, plus this study that found fish can even recognise human faces.
There's also some interesting stuff on fish intelligence here, plus this study that found fish can even recognise human faces.
And don't forget Bite Size Vegan's take:
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Also, a little info on some other ocean creatures people like to kill and eat:
- Octopus intelligence
- Pain in crabs and lobsters
- Pain in squid and other invertebrates
- Octopus intelligence
- Pain in crabs and lobsters
- Pain in squid and other invertebrates
And finally, some videos worth your consideration.
The Brutal Killing
of Bluefin Tuna |
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The Devastating
Impacts of Bycatch |
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Skinned Alive:
Catfish Slaughter |
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Captain Sid
Chakravarty: Bad Fishing Practices |
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"I went snorkeling and noticed how gently the fish welcomed us into their world,
compared to the violence with which we welcome them into ours."
Syndee Brinkman
compared to the violence with which we welcome them into ours."
Syndee Brinkman