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For millennia, fish have been taken from the
world's oceans, lakes, and rivers and killed by humans for food. In recent
decades, consumer demand for seafood has increased in the U.S., while new
technologies have improved our ability to find and catch fish. Over the
latter half of the 20th century, wild catches have increased by
approximately 500% to nearly 100 million tons per year.
As a
result, wild fish populations have been decimated. In addition to fish who
are caught by factory trawling vessels, other - economically
useless - sea life are caught and killed in the nets. Called
'by-catch,' these animals - including non-target fish, sea
turtles, sea lions, and even dolphins - are thrown back into
the water dead or dying. The U.S. government estimates more than 100, 000
marine mammals are killed every year by the U.S. commercial fishing
industry, and worldwide, it is thought that approximately one third of
wild-caught fish are considered 'by-catch.'
One agribusiness
publication, Feedstuffs, states that
[u]nder current management strategies of
commercial harvests in open-access fisheries, such as oceans or Great
Lakes commercial fisheries, increased production is possible only in the
shortest runs. Every new seafood fad leads to the decimation of another
species of fish... Any major increase in seafood consumption can be
sustained only if the seafood is grown on farms or in other managed
environments.
In a subsequent Feedstuffs article,
agribusiness profiteers appeared undaunted by the tragic loss of sea life
and proclaim that the situation "may offer opportunities for
aquaculturalists to profitably produce farm-raised fish."
The
quantity of farm-raised fish has doubled over the past decade and is "one
of the fastest growing food producing sectors," according to the United
Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Today, approximately one
in five fish consumed worldwide is raised in captivity.
The life of
a farm-raised fish begins in temperature-controlled hatching tanks. From
here, small fish (called "fry") are transferred to rearing areas where
they grow to maturity. The fish may be raised in highly- controlled tanks
or raceways (rectangular concrete enclosures up to 20 acres in size)
constructed inland, or they may be raised in artificial enclosures in
coastal estuaries. Fish crowded into small areas are susceptible to
disease and suffocation, as exemplified by an article from the Cornell
Countryman, which states, "...growing 2,500 pounds of fish in 2,500
gallons of water doesn't give the fish much room to
breathe..."
Raising fish in crowded, excrement-laden water
necessitates the broad use of agrichemicals. An FDA Veterinarian
article explains that fish farmers "use chemicals as disinfectants and to
kill bacteria; herbicides to prevent the overgrowth of vegetation in
ponds; vaccines to fight certain diseases; and drugs - usually combined in
the feed - to treat diseases and parasites."
In addition, the fish industry insists that
"access to spawning and production hormones is one of the 'essential and
critical' needs of the U.S. aquaculture industry," as described in Food
Chemical News. When aquaculture operates in coastal estuaries, the
chemicals and waste products it generates pollute and destroy vast
expanses of valuable and increasingly rare estuaries every
year.
When they reach market weight, aquaculture
fish are loaded into oxygenated tanker trucks bound for the kill plant.
Needless to say, this is a very stressful process. Feedstuffs
comments, "Conventional pond harvest methods, such as pond draw-down or
seining (the use of nets), often severely stress or damage fish."
Upon arriving at the processing plant, the
tanker trucks pour their cargo - water and fish - into
large, metal, mesh cages. As the water pours through, fish who have
survived the ordeal of "harvest" and transportation die of
suffocation.
The ability of fish to feel pain and
distress is given so little consideration that in some restaurants, fish
are actually eaten alive -eviscerated, filleted, and delivered to the
serving table. The eyes are covered so that the fishes will not see and
react to diners reaching for parts of their bodies.
One article, written by Hodding Carter
IV, describes eating a live fish in gruesome detail: "We each reached in
with our chopsticks. The fish buckled... Now, as it slowly died, would it
feel each piece of its body lifted away and hungrily
masticated?"
Commercial Fishing
Fish Farms
Angling
Health Concerns
Fish Feel Pain
Environmental Concerns
Fishing
Hurts FAQ
From University of Edinburgh (Oct
2005) - Fish
A study shows that fish not only
use different sides of their brains for different tasks - just like
humans - but also process information so efficiently they can do it
without even looking.
Although it is well established
that fish use different sides of the brain for specific tasks - a
process called lateralisation - the new study in Current
Biology is the first to show how fish use other, non-visual, senses to
preferentially process information.
The researchers observed that
blind Mexican cave fish, which have no eyes, show a clear response to swim
to the left when they approach an unfamiliar object. The cave fish use
special sensors on the right hand side of their bodies, called lateral
line sense organs, to guide them. The organ, which uses a sensory system
similar to human touch, picks up information about water movements and so
is able to detect and determine the nature of any new object that the fish
encounters.
Having no eyes, the Mexican cave fish have to rely on
their lateral line organ to negotiate the area that they are moving
through to build up a map. As the fish swim though the water they set up a
flow-field around their body. Objects and hard surfaces interfere with
this flow-field and allow the fish to navigate and avoid obstacles.
Information from the right lateral line is transferred to the left side of
the brain where it is processed. Once the fish become familiar with the
object, they swim past it using either side of their body to detect it.
Dr Victoria Braithwaite, of the University of Edinburgh’s School
of Biological Sciences, said: "Yet again we are seeing how sophisticated
the fish brain can be. We knew that fish displayed signs of lateralisation
when they viewed different cues, such as predatory animals or other fish,
but this is the first time it has been found in the lateral line sensory
system. This suggests that lateralisation is an ancient evolutionary
phenomenon, operating across different senses, which helps the brain to
process information more efficiently. Our results reveal that this
specialisation is seen not just in ourselves, other mammals and birds, but
also in fish."
Source: University of Edinburgh
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