Fish farming: The hidden animal welfare disaster happening right under our feet
It is time for us to take a stance on the ever-increasing farmed fish industry and call it out for what it truly is. It is an industry built on animal suffering and environmental degradation hidden beneath the water conveniently out of sight of the public eye.
ANIMALS ASIA: ‘Fish farming is said to be the fastest growing form of animal food production on the planet, with over half of the fish we consume globally now raised within intensively managed systems which generally take the form of mesh cages submerged in natural bodies of water like sea lochs or rivers. Yet these farms are now causing major welfare problems for millions of fish as well as causing serious environmental concerns.
Salmon farming is an intensive farming practice. Open-net pens in coastal waters hold tens of thousands of fish in extremely small spaces. Such intensive conditions makes the salmon more susceptible to disease, while increasing stress, aggression, and physical injuries such as fin damage. Along with lack of space, overcrowding also leads to poor water quality, leaving the fish with less oxygen to breathe. The high numbers also make it impossible for individual fish to carry out their key natural behaviours – a recognised minimum standard in animal welfare…
Farms are also often dependent on wild caught fish to feed their farmed fish. It can take up to five pounds of smaller fish to produce one pound of a fish such as a salmon or sea bass equating to over 450 billion fish being caught each year for reduction to fish oil and fishmeal, which is then fed to farmed fish. Overfishing of these smaller fish has repercussions throughout the ocean ecosystem…
The industry causes further welfare problems by withholding food from farmed fish to empty their guts before stressful procedures, such as transport, grading, and slaughter. Finally, farmed fish are often slaughtered using methods which cause immense suffering, such as gassing with carbon dioxide or cutting the gills without stunning. Some fish are simply left to suffocate in air or on ice, or may be processed while still alive…
With our knowledge of fish cognition growing rapidly through behavioural observations, it is time for us to take a stance on the ever-increasing farmed fish industry and call it out for what it truly is. It is an industry built on animal suffering and environmental degradation hidden beneath the water conveniently out of sight of the public eye’. SOURCE…
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