Matthew Chalmers
Fishes feel pain and should be protected by law. However, with no government officials inspecting their welfare at slaughter, these complex and sensitive animals have been neglected and forgotten.
Freedom of information requests gathered by The Humane League UK and shared with The Guardian have exposed UK governments and public bodies' failure to inspect farmed fish welfare at slaughter.
Our government institutions are once again failing animals.
It’s a legal requirement in the UK for animals, including fishes, to “be spared any avoidable pain, distress or suffering during their killing and related operations.”
Yet not one public institution carries out regular welfare inspections of farmed fishes at slaughter, with each thinking another is responsible.
All other farmed animals are protected by detailed legislation about how exactly they should be slaughtered, but not fishes.
Our institutions have dropped the ball, and it's not taxpayers or citizens that will pay the price but millions of animals, killed behind closed doors while our governments disregard their duty to protect them.
Fishes are the second most farmed animal raised in the UK. They are second only to chickens raised for meat, with 77 million of them farmed each year, mostly salmon and trout.
The Humane League UK contacted government agencies across England, Scotland and Wales including the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Marine Scotland, the Food Standards Agency, the Fish Health Inspectorate and the Environmental Health departments of local authorities.
None of these accepted responsibility for checking the welfare of fishes at slaughter, with each directing us to another agency.
This institutional incompetence, and its implications for the wellbeing of animals, is shocking.
Scientific research confirms that fishes can experience suffering and emotion, form relationships, and even recognise the faces of different humans and fish.
The majority of the public know this, as we learned from a YouGov poll commissioned recently. People support our call for fish to have the same legal protections as other farmed animals. And it's time for our governments to catch up.
Join us in our fight against the abuse of fishes by supporting The Forgotten Fish Campaign and by signing our petition, which calls on the Government to update the law and stop fishes from being killed in painful ways.
