The fish farming industry, also known as aquaculture or pisciculture, has snowballed in recent decades to meet the rising demand for seafood.

Global production through the fish farming industry has quadrupled over the past 50 years, and the pressure on wild fish has caused a rise in fish farms.

These farms are located in seawater, freshwater or even speciality indoor tanks.

While fish farming promises a solution to the overfishing of wild fish stocks, the reality is much grimmer. Fish, we know, are sentient beings.

“Fish are seldom afforded the same level of compassion or welfare as warm-blooded vertebrates. Part of the problem is the large gap between people’s perception of fish intelligence and the scientific reality.” 

Culum Brown, a professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

We think of fish swimming in large schools and don’t consider that they have abilities capable of perceiving and experiencing sensations.

Fish exhibit a mental complexity comparable to other vertebrates, and there is increasing evidence to suggest that they experience pain similarly to humans.

Industrial fish farms are causing immense suffering to the fish trapped within them.

Cramped Conditions

Typically, thousands of fish are crowded into small pens or enclosures. They have no room to swim freely or express natural behaviours. The high stocking density stresses the fish and can lead to injuries from aggression and fin biting. Diseased and injured fish are typically left to suffer and, like many other factory farming scenarios, with no veterinary care.

Rampant Disease and Pollution

The crowded and unsanitary conditions in fish farms make disease outbreaks rampant. A fish infected with a contagious virus can quickly spread to other fish within the farm. Fish are also prone to parasite infestations, with farmed salmon particularly vulnerable to sea lice outbreaks.

According to a Time magazine article, an anaemia outbreak in a Maine aquaculture facility in the year 2000 resulted in the death of 2.5 million fish.

To control these outbreaks, fish are given antibiotics and pesticides at high levels. Many of these chemicals accumulate not only in the fish flesh but also in their environment. They can leech into the surrounding soil and water. 

The waste from fish farms can impact not only the immediate area but also the larger coastal zone at various levels of the ecosystem. This can reduce the amount, density, and variety of marine life and alter natural food webs.

Inhumane Slaughter

(Not that there is such a thing as ‘humane’ slaughter!)

Like all farmed animals, large numbers of fish reared for food are ultimately killed. 

The reality of “humane” fish farming is a myth.

While some fish farming operations claim to be “humane” or “sustainable”, the reality is that confining and killing fish on an industrial scale cannot be done without causing them harm and suffering. 

Unfortunately, traditional methods of killing fish are certainly not humane. 

Farmed fish are still commonly killed by asphyxiation (suffocation by taking them out of water), carbon dioxide exposure, very low temperatures or bleeding without stunning some even are bludgeoned to death. There are no mandatory measures to ensure a humane or painless death for farmed fish. These procedures take several minutes to induce insensibility and cannot be considered humane.

There are now more updated methods for stunning fish, which involve using electricity or percussion. For example, some systems use electrified water to stun fish as they pass through, while others use automated flow-through systems to keep fish in the water until they are stunned. These techniques eliminate the need for handling fish before slaughter and ensure they are adequately stunned before they are bled out. However, these methods still need to become the norm.

Many believe that switching to a pescatarian diet is a much more effective way to help the animals, stop climate change and is a healthy alternative. Sadly they do not see that it is absolutely having the opposite effect in all three areas.

The only truly humane and sustainable option is shifting to a plant-based diet that avoids consuming fish and other animals.

The modern fish farming industry shows that industrialised animal exploitation comes at too high a cost – both for the animals and the environment. We must transition to a more compassionate and sustainable food system that does not rely on causing harm and suffering.

Until next time…