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Fish

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<-- 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.[1][2] Here we address a few common labels and certifications for fish.

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.[5]

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.[6]

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" [7]

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

Overfishing

Commercial fishing is hugely destructive. Methods such as trawling involve dragging a vast net along the ocean floor and scooping up almost everything in its path.[8] As a consequence of methods like this, around three-quarters of the world's fisheries are now either fully exploited, overexploited, or depleted.[9] In other words, fish simply cannot reproduce quickly enough to replace the number we are killing. It has even been predicted that stocks of all species currently fished could collapse by 2048 if we continue to fish at the same rate.[10]

Bycatch

Commercial fishing usually targets specific species. However, many non-target species are also accidentally caught. In many cases, it is not economically viable to sell them and so they are discarded. These discarded species are known as bycatch or bykill.[11] Estimates suggest that in 2014, 837,867,783 pounds of bycatch was produced by US fisheries alone.[12] It is not just fish who are accidentally caught, but also other animals such as turtles, marine mammals (like dolphins), and seabirds.[11]

Species Extinction

Overfishing is pushing many species to the brink of extinction.[13] One of the most famous cases is the highly-prized Pacific bluefin tuna, which could soon be functionally extinct due to overfishing if nothing is done.[14]

Pollution from Fishing Gear

A 2019 Greenpeace report found that discarded fishing gear is a major cause of ocean plastic pollution. It is responsible for 70 percent of ocean plastics larger than 20 centimeters, and around 640,000 tonnes of it are dumped into the oceans every year. Fishing nets are especially problematic as they continue to capture and kill marine life even after they are abandoned.[15] According to the British charity World Animal Protection, 100,000 dolphins, turtles, whales, and seals are killed each year by so-called "ghost gear."[16]

Threat to Native Species

Some types of farmed fish, such as salmon, are raised in pens along the coast. These fish commonly escape and can pose a threat to native species. For example, they may compete with them for food, interbreed with them and affect the genetic pool, or prey on them.[17] Additionally, diseases and parasites often spread rapidly in fish farms due to high stocking densities and unhygienic conditions. When farmed fish escape, they can pass these ailments on to their wild counterparts.[18][19]

Destruction of Coastal Habitat

Human Health, Nutrition

Food Safety

Bioaccumulation of Toxins

Due to human activity, the oceans are becoming increasingly contaminated with toxins like heavy metals, pesticides,[20] and PCBs.[21] 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.[22] They are absorbed by sea creatures either through diet or through the gills. The toxins then concentrate in their flesh.[20]

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.[23]

Humans often eat large meat-eating fish like salmon and trout,[24] 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.[25] 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.[20] 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.[26]

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.[27]

Parasites

Naturally Occurring Toxins

Diseases and Conditions

Allergies

Cardiovascular Disease

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:[28]

  • 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.


Footnotes

  1. ↑ Consumer Reports “Labels.” Greener Choices (blog). Accessed July 6, 2019. http://greenerchoices.org/labels/
  2. ↑ Global Animal Partnership.” Open Philanthropy Project, March 26, 2016. https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/us-policy/farm-animal-welfare/global-animal-partnership-general-support
  3. ↑ Consumer Reports “Labels.” Greener Choices (blog). Accessed July 6, 2019. http://greenerchoices.org/labels/
  4. ↑ Global Animal Partnership.” Open Philanthropy Project, March 26, 2016. https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/us-policy/farm-animal-welfare/global-animal-partnership-general-support
  5. ↑ “Is Sustainable-Labeled Seafood Really Sustainable?” NPR.org, February 11, 2013. https://www.npr.org/2013/02/11/171376509/is-sustainable-labeled-seafood-really-sustainable">https://www.npr.org/2013/02/11/171376509/is-sustainable-labeled-seafood-really-sustainable
  6. ↑ Balcombe, Jonathan. What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins. Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016.
  7. ↑ needs primary source, perhaps it's from her book Do fish feel pain, found at fishpain.com
  8. ↑ Olsgard, Frode, Morten T. Schaanning, Stephen Widdicombe, Mike A. Kendall, and Melanie C. Austen. “Effects of Bottom Trawling on Ecosystem Functioning.” Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 366, no. 1–2 (November 2008): 123–33. Accessed December 11, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2008.07.036.
  9. ↑ “General Situation of World Fish Stocks.” United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Accessed December 11, 2019. http://www.fao.org/newsroom/common/ecg/1000505/en/stocks.pdf.
  10. ↑ Worm, B., E. B. Barbier, N. Beaumont, J. E. Duffy, C. Folke, B. S. Halpern, J. B. C. Jackson, et al. “Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services.” Science 314, no. 5800 (November 3, 2006): 787–90. Accessed December 11, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1132294.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Fisheries, NOAA. “Bycatch | NOAA Fisheries.” NOAA, December 6, 2019. Accessed December 11 2019. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/topic/bycatch.
  12. ↑ Benaka, L.R., D. Bullock, A.L. Hoover, and N.A. Olsen (editors). U.S. National Bycatch Report First Edition Update 3. 2019. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-F/SPO-190. Accessed December 11 2019. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/webdam/download/87740881
  13. ↑ Burgess, M. G., S. Polasky, and D. Tilman. “Predicting Overfishing and Extinction Threats in Multispecies Fisheries.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110, no. 40 (October 1, 2013): 15943–48. Accessed December 12 2019. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1314472110.
  14. ↑ Harvey, Fiona. “Overfishing Causes Pacific Bluefin Tuna Numbers to Drop 96%.” The Guardian, January 9, 2013, sec. Environment. Accessed December 12 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jan/09/overfishing-pacific-bluefin-tuna.
  15. ↑ “GHOST GEAR: THE ABANDONED FISHING NETS HAUNTING OUR OCEANS.” Greenpeace, November 2019. Accessed December 12, 2019. https://www.greenpeace.de/sites/www.greenpeace.de/files/publications/20190611-greenpeace-report-ghost-fishing-ghost-gear-deutsch.pdf.
  16. ↑ World Animal Protection International. “The Ghostly 600-Year-Old Predators Killing More than 100,000 Whales, Dolphins, Seals and Turtles a Year.” Accessed December 12, 2019. https://www.worldanimalprotection.org/news/ghostly-600-year-old-predators-killing-more-100000-whales-dolphins-seals-and-turtles-year.
  17. ↑ Delgado, C.; Wada, N.; Rosegrant, M.W.; Meijer, S.; Ahmed, M. 2003. The future of fish: issues and trends to 2020. IFPRI Issue Brief 15. Washington, D.C. (USA): IFPRI. Accessed December 12 2019. https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/2039/TheFutureOfFish.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
  18. ↑ Frazer, L. Neil. “Sea-Cage Aquaculture, Sea Lice, and Declines of Wild Fish.” Conservation Biology 23, no. 3 (June 2009): 599–607. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.01128.x.
  19. ↑ Morton, Alexandra, Richard Routledge, Stacey Hrushowy, Molly Kibenge, and Frederick Kibenge. “The Effect of Exposure to Farmed Salmon on Piscine Orthoreovirus Infection and Fitness in Wild Pacific Salmon in British Columbia, Canada.” Edited by Uwe Fischer. PLOS ONE 12, no. 12 (December 13, 2017): e0188793. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188793.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Cui, Lili, Jing Ge, Yindi Zhu, Yuyi Yang, and Jun Wang. “Concentrations, Bioaccumulation, and Human Health Risk Assessment of Organochlorine Pesticides and Heavy Metals in Edible Fish from Wuhan, China.” Environmental Science and Pollution Research 22, no. 20 (October 2015): 15866–79. Accessed December 11 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4752-8.
  21. ↑ US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “What Are PCBs?” Accessed December 11, 2019. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/pcbs.html.
  22. ↑ Stemmler, Irene, and Gerhard Lammel. “Cycling of DDT in the Global Environment 1950–2002: World Ocean Returns the Pollutant.” Geophysical Research Letters 36, no. 24 (December 31, 2009): L24602. Accessed December 11 2019. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GL041340.
  23. ↑ Beltran-Pedreros, Sandra, Jansen Zuanon, Rosseval Galdino Leite, José Reinaldo Pacheco Peleja, Alessandra Barros Mendonça, and Bruce Rider Forsberg. “Mercury Bioaccumulation in Fish of Commercial Importance from Different Trophic Categories in an Amazon Floodplain Lake.” Neotropical Ichthyology 9, no. 4 (2011): 901–8. Accessed December 11 2019. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1679-62252011000400022.
  24. ↑ Weaver, Kelly L., Priscilla Ivester, Joshua A. Chilton, Martha D. Wilson, Prativa Pandey, and Floyd H. Chilton. “The Content of Favorable and Unfavorable Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Found in Commonly Eaten Fish.” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 108, no. 7 (July 2008): 1178–85. Accessed December 11 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2008.04.023.
  25. ↑ Nair, Maheswari, K. V. Jayalakshmy, K. K. Balachandran, and T. Joseph. “Bioaccumulation of Toxic Metals by Fish in a Semi-Enclosed Tropical Ecosystem.” Environmental Forensics 7, no. 3 (September 2006): 197–206. Accessed December 11 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/15275920600840438.
  26. ↑ Oken, Emily, and David Bellinger. “Fish Consumption, Methylmercury and Child Neurodevelopment.” Current Opinion in Pediatrics 20, no. 2 (April 2008): 178–83. Accessed December 11 2019. https://doi.org/10.1097/MOP.0b013e3282f5614c.
  27. ↑ Dórea, José G. “Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic Substances in Fish: Human Health Considerations.” Science of The Total Environment 400, no. 1–3 (August 2008): 93–114. Accessed December 11, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.06.017.
  28. ↑ Ochoa, MD, Sofia Pineda. “7 Ways Animal Protein Is Damaging Your Health.” Forks Over Knives, December 31, 2016. Accessed October 22, 2019. https://www.forksoverknives.com/animalproteindangers/.
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