Target: Paul Souza, Director of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Goal: Advocate for more humane methods in fishing practices.
Although fish are perhaps the most slaughtered animals on the planet, they are often disregarded and dismissed in terms of animal welfare. These animals are typically not protected under animal cruelty laws. Some individuals who do not otherwise consume meat will eat seafood because they theorize that fish and other aquatic creatures feel minimal pain when they are killed. But new research throws cold water on this assumption.
The study used a tool known as the Welfare Footprint Framework, which attempts to demonstrate the suffering of living beings in minutes. According to the research, fish – often killed either by suffocation or by ice methods – can experience up to 24 minutes of agonizing pain before they die. For some varieties of fish, the suffering is “limited” to about ten minutes of oxygen deprivation, gill collapse, and frenzied panic. But for types like rainbow trout, almost half an hour will have elapsed before the animal finally loses consciousness.
In light of the new findings, advocates are once again calling for more humane methods in the fishing industry. Sign the petition below to echo these calls for needed reform.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Director Souza,
Imagine being deprived of air for even one minute. Your lungs constrict, you gasp for air, and panic sets in as blackness clouds your vision. Now, imagine exposing another living being to this cruel fate for roughly 24 minutes. According to troubling new research, this is the fate that befalls many fish killed by the popular methods of air asphyxiation and ice slurries.
Percussive stunning and electrical stunning are low-cost, effective methods that can and should be broadened in the fishing industry. Most importantly, they inflict minimal pain and suffering. Please encourage widespread adoption of these humane approaches that honor animal welfare standards.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Lisac Mark
