According to a recent article in the New York Times, researchers at Case Western Reserve University found that fish kept in small tanks become stressed and agitated, just like other animals who are kept in overcrowded or cramped conditions. The article quotes Dr. Oldfield, a biology professor at Case, who says, “If people kept dogs in these conditions, they’d be put in prison. It’s something we should think about.”
Although the study focuses primarily on fish kept as pets, the article notes that overcrowding has become a major problem on fish farms too, where fish raised for food are forced to live in filthy, disease-ridden pens just like chickens or pigs on factory farms. Alan Duckworth, a research scientist with the Blue Ocean Institute in Cold Spring Harbor, says that overcrowding farmed fish causes stress and “could increase the amount of disease.”
While science and common sense tell us that fish, like other animals, are capable of experiencing both pleasure and pain, the commercial fishing industry completely disregards the feelings of countless fish, who are painfully hooked or netted and dragged from the water, or are forced to live in overcrowded pens before being suffocated to death or even skinned alive.
As consumers, we have the power to spare fish – and all other animals used in food production – unnecessary pain and suffering by making the compassionate choice to forgo fish, as well as other meats, dairy and eggs. Visit ChooseVeg.com to learn more.
