When we get into debates about veganism with non-vegans, the ethics of eating fishes is often brought up. Fishes are viewed as ‘lesser’ animals with low intelligence, no ability to feel pain, and no complex thinking capability. The rhetoric that a fish is no more than a swimming vegetable is nothing other than outright speciesism.

People cannot relate to fishes

Humans struggle to relate to fish species, and it often comes down to the differences in their facial plans. With eyes on the sides of their heads, no eyelids, low ability to express facial emotions and scales instead of hair or feathers, people can easily dismiss that there is much more going on inside a fish’s brain other than the desire to just find food or a mate. But there is so much more to fishes than most people can even begin to fathom, and the science has backed these findings for decades.

It can be seen in cartoons like Finding Nemo that animators will bring the eyes of the animals forward so they are placed in a more human-like area of the face. They also make their eyes bigger to allow the characters to express more emotion. If they didn’t do this, would people love these films as much as they do?

To clear things up:

• Yes, fishes feel pain and are sentient
• Yes, fishes can suffer
• Yes, fishes have desires and preferences
• Yes, fishes are individuals with unique personalities
• Yes, it is wrong to eat them

We kill trillions of fishes every year

The rate at which we kill fishes is far greater than any other group of animals on the planet. People often think chickens are the most eaten animal, but the number of fishes slaughtered yearly far outweighs that. Over 70 billion land animals are farmed and killed each year, but we are estimated to kill up to three trillion marine animals in the same time period. It is not possible to know how many we even kill. Most species are ‘harvested’ from the oceans and measured by their mass. Often, you will read about the number of tonnes of fishes caught, but there could be hundreds of thousands of individuals within those tonnes. It is only in larger species, like Tuna, where individuals are counted, which can singularly weigh as much as a large bull and sell for thousands of pounds.

The target species of fishing vessels can be far outweighed by the non-target species brought aboard, primarily through methods like trawling. It is devastating that millions of animals every year are caught as ‘by-catch’, like whales, dolphins and turtles, but why is this always such a big focus of anti-fishing campaigning? Whales and dolphins are mammals, and turtles are reptiles. People connect more to these groups of animals, in general. You’ll see on tins of Tuna in the supermarket that they are ‘dolphin-friendly’ because heaven forbid that a dolphin is killed alongside another species people will gladly eat. Of course, it is all completely wrong, but it reflects our ingrained speciesism and hypocrisy.

Fish farming (aquaculture)

As we are rapidly depleting the oceans of ‘desired’ species of fishes that we consume, the industry has switched to farming methods instead. Vast ocean nets are located in seas worldwide, including hundreds off the coast of Scotland. They hold thousands of individuals, such as Trout and Salmon. With these species in decline in the ocean, companies have turned to raising millions of the animals in hatcheries before releasing them into ocean pens.

Aside from the grotesque ethical breaches, there are numerous problems with these methods. Firstly, the fishes who are farmed are fed other fishes, so even more free-living animals have to be caught to feed them. It has been shown that to ‘produce’ 1kg of farmed Salmon, it takes 1.5kg of free-living fishes. The industry is looking for short-term solutions to make profits whilst they can, without a second thought, to the destruction and suffering they are creating.

Fishes become plagued with sea lice and are put through barbaric washing methods to try and displace the parasites, including hot baths, which can result in individuals becoming shocked by the temperature changes and causing them to suffer greatly and even die. They are trapped in pens, forced to swim around continuously, and unable to exhibit many of their natural behaviours. The areas around the coast where these animals are farmed become cesspools and significantly impact the free-living species in the region. There are even licences to shoot seals around fish farms to prevent them from eating any fishes and causing profit loss.

Fishes do feel pain

It is far easier for us to see pain and suffering in animals like pigs and cows. They show fear as we do and cry out when in pain. But fishes are no different. They have the ability to feel pain, but they don’t scream out like we do. Their pain goes unheard, and so we dismiss it. Dr. Lynne Sneddon, from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, was the first scientist to identify the existence of nociceptors in fishes back in 2002. Her research has shown that the ‘physiology, neurobiology, molecular biology and brain activity that many fish species show in response to painful stimuli is comparable to mammals.’ Not only that, but apparent behavioural changes happen when fishes experience pain. In laboratory settings, these changes are lessened once the individuals have been given pain relief. Many studies show that other aquatic animals like crabs, lobsters, octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish all show similar responses to pain.

Fishes (and crustaceans and cephalopods) feel pain. It is clear-cut, with a plethora of evidence backing it up.

Is eating fishes wrong?

Even without the notion that fishes can feel pain or looking at the unfathomable number of individuals killed every year, it is ethically and morally wrong to eat any animals, including fishes. Every individual fights to survive and has the desire to seek enjoyment and play, and no fish should ever have to face being dragged from the ocean and being suffocated or crushed to death. In 2024, there is simply no excuse for anyone living in a modern society to be supporting this cruel and needless industry.

We need to encourage more people to change their views on marine animals and show them the respect we all deserve. We must continue pushing for a society where we end the exploitation and commodification of all animals, and that will always include fishes.

As always,

For the animals.