Fish

 https://justiceforanimals.org/?curid=428

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This assignment will be moved to the draft namespace after an author has accepted the assignment.

<-- Fishfeel.org and fishpain.com contain a wealth of pertinent information and will help you discover primary sources. Also see youtube.com/watch?v=ESao1rvNAi0 -->

This article provides summarized information about fish in the context of animal rights, including injustices and suffering, humane labels and certifications, sentience and cognition, the environmental consequences of fishing and fish farming, the health risks of fish, and impacts to communities and workers. <-- not sure if there is enough info on communities and workers to be useful, so eliminate as fitting -->

It does not specifically cover other sea animals such as whales, dolphins, lobsters, and crabs, although they may be included in aggregate figures or in the context of collateral damage. When so referenced, their inclusion will be noted.

<-- are there any other topics that should be included in this article? -->

General Information

Species

<-- Provide brief information about the classification of fish, the ones most used for food, the ones commonly caught and farmed, etc.-->

Numbers

<-- include any counts for numbers of fish pulled from the oceans, numbers farmed, bycatch, and whatever else would be useful for advocacy. Maybe other interesting stats.-->

Injustices and Suffering

<-- fyi, I'm going to shorten this embed --> The injustices inherent in exploiting fish and other non-human animals stem from seeing them as commodities having only instrumental value, lacking any inherent worth apart from their usefulness to humans.

As Tom Regan put it, the animals we use "have a life of their own that is of importance to them, apart from their utility to us. They are not only in the world, they are aware of it and also of what happens to them. And what happens to them matters to them. Each has a life that fares experientially better or worse for the one whose life it is."

As shown in the section on sentience and cognition, fish not only have a will to live and value their lives, just as humans do, but also have desires, preferences, emotions, families, social communities, natural behaviors, a sense of themselves, and a sense of the future.

The injustices discussed below—all arising from a failure to recognize the inherent worth of other sentient beings—are either standard practice or not unusual. And, as shown in the section below on humane labels and certifications, this is true even for products with a humane label or certification. To omit a significant number of these injustices would likely render the cost of such products unaffordable by all but the most affluent, and we would still have to slaughter them.

Loss of Life

To take the life of any sentient being is to harm that being by depriving them of opportunities for fulfillment, even if it is done suddenly and painlessly (which it is not, as explained below).

We have no nutritional need for fish (or any animal product) so denying them their lives is unnecessary, as are the other forms of suffering enumerated here. Not only are we taking their lives, but with regard to farmed fish, we are doing so after allowing them to live only about ??? percent of there natural lifespans. <-- I doubt if there are numbers for averages life lived vs lifespan of commercially caught fish, but if you find them use them. -->

Slaughter

<-- discuss methods of slaughter and cruelties involved.

<-- for each of the following cruelties, but only as applicable: to what extent is it performed?; when, what age, is it repeating?); how painful?; pain relief given?; lasting damage? what percentage has this done to them? Some may apply only to caught or farmed fish, but not both.-->

Commercially Caught Fish

Farmed Fish

Another injustice, etc

Commercially Caught Fish

Farmed Fish

Humane Labels and Certifications

Investigations by Consumer Reports and the Open Philanthropy Project (and others) reveal that humane-sounding labels and certifications are largely meaningless, as shown below. In general, these investigations reveal that the standards are weak and unenforced, audits and inspections are rarely done, and if they are done and violations are found, which is infrequent, no one gets fined. Here we address a few common labels and certifications for fish.

Extra: Suggested script for discussing humane labels and certifications

When discussing humane labels and certifications, in addition to providing some of the details presented in this section, conveying the ideas presented in the following script might be useful:

Many believe that we are not harming animals when we use them for food as long as we treat them well while they are living. The justification given for this view is that animals don't have a sense of the future, and thus don’t have an interest in continuing to live. However, current research in cognitive ethology and neurobiology [as shown below], says otherwise.

But if one holds this belief in spite of the science, and wants to live by their own values, they might, with good intentions, decide to buy only animal products that have some sort of humane label or certification. However, investigations by Consumer Reports, The Open Philanthropy Project, and numerous others reveal that these certifications and labels are largely meaningless.

These investigations show that the standards are weak and unenforced, audits and inspections are rarely done, and if they are done and violations are found, which is infrequent, no one gets fined.

So even if you buy into the idea that it’s OK to eat animal products as long as the animals are treated well, there is virtually no chance that the animals have, in fact, been treated well, regardless of what label is on the package. While certain labels may represent less suffering for some of the abuses, other abuses remain. The mitigation of some of the cruelties does not justify the remaining ones.

Humane labels and certifications are, for the most part, marketing ploys. They are designed to assuage our guilt, and they can engender higher profits because the industry knows that concerned, kindhearted consumers are willing to pay more for products they perceive to be humanely produced.

The life of any farmed animal can only be described as one of commodified, abusive servitude ending in brutal slaughter. When viewed objectively, free from the fog of our cultural norms, their treatment and slaughter, by any standard of fairness and justice—cannot be considered humane.

Certified Sustainable Seafood

Certified Sustainable has nothing to do with the well-being of fish. Not only that, but the sustainability claim itself is suspect. In a piece titled "Is Sustainable-Labeled Seafood Really Sustainable?" NPR reports that scientists and other experts believe fisheries are being certified that should not be. In addition, fish are being incorrectly counted, rendering the claims of sustainability doubtful at best.

Another Humane Label, etc

Sentience and Cognition

Although our concern for fish is typically less than it is for other animals, research in cognitive ethology and neurobiology reveals that fish show intelligence, feel pain, display emotions, and have many of the other characteristics of the land animals we use for food.

According to Victoria Braithwaite, professor of Fisheries and Biology at Penn State University, "The evidence we have to support sentience and pain perception in fish is a good as anything we have for birds and mammals. Fish, like birds and mammals, have a capacity for self-awareness"

While we are not suggesting that the degree of moral consideration given to an animal be based on their cognitive capacity, it seems that most people are not fully aware of the rich cognitive, emotional, and psychological lives that fish experience.

<-- one or two sentences about fish brain similarity to mammalian hippocampus, amygdala, and neocortex and why it matters-->

Trait 1, etc

A Sense of the Future

Environmental Consequences

Problem 1, etc

Human Health, Nutrition

Food Safety

Bioaccumulation of Toxins

Due to human activity, the oceans are becoming increasingly contaminated with toxins like heavy metals, pesticides, and PCBs. Though many of the most harmful (such as DDT) have been banned in some countries, they persist in the environment and may still be used elsewhere in the world. They are absorbed by sea creatures either through diet or through the gills. The toxins then concentrate in their flesh.

Smaller sea creatures are eaten by fish, and these fish are consumed by larger fish. In this way, the toxins move up the food chain, becoming more and more concentrated with each step. This is because meat-eating fish eat multiple smaller creatures over the course of their lifetimes, ingesting all the toxins from each one.

Humans often eat large meat-eating fish like salmon and trout, which are at the top of the food chain and so have the highest concentration of toxins. Eating fish can cause these toxins to concentrate in our own flesh. Many of these substances are neurotoxins, meaning they can damage the brain. Some can also cause problems with reproduction, immunity, the nervous system, the kidneys, and more. This is becoming such a problem that in many countries, pregnant women are now advised to limit their intake of certain types of fish to avoid damaging the fetus.

Fishmeal is also fed to some factory-farmed animals, leading toxins to bioaccumulate in their flesh. Eating these animals therefore also poses a risk to human health.

Diseases and Conditions =

Allergies

Animal Protein Risks

All animal protein, including the protein found in fish, carries risks that are not associated with plant protein. A review by Dr. Sofia Ochoa cites 42 studies showing that animal protein:

• elevates hormone-insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), which stimulates cell division and growth in both healthy and cancer cells and "has been consistently associated with increased cancer risk, proliferation, and malignancy"

• "results in us having higher circulating levels of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO)," which "injures the lining of our vessels, creates inflammation, and facilitates the formation of cholesterol plaques in our blood vessels"

• causes the overproduction of the hormone fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), which damages our blood vessels, can "lead to enlargement of the cardiac ventricle, and is associated with heart attacks, sudden death, and heart failure"

• can result in the overabsorption of heme iron, causing the conversion of other oxidants into highly reactive free radicals that "can damage different cell structures like proteins, membranes, and DNA" (heme iron "has also been associated with many kinds of gastrointestinal cancers")

• can result in a higher incidence of bone fractures because of animal protein's high concentrations of sulfur

• contributes to atherosclerosis—plaques of cholesterol that accumulate in the lining of our vessels; this condition is far less common on a vegan diet because absorbable cholesterol is not found in plants

Social Consequences of the Fish Industry

Consequence 1, etc.

Meta

<-- fyi, I've decided to put meta before footnotes, and will be changing the other articles in time -->

This article was originally authored by Bethany Chester with contributions by Greg Fuller . The contents may have been edited since that time by others.