Do you think it's cruel to eat fish?

Question

it's not that they live in cages and are executed some way they just swim in the net. plus we need ingredients that are in fish so they are really healthy.

Answer 1

It all depends on what you mean by cruelty. However, the following points should be borne in mind:

1. Commercial fishing has been defined as an unrivalled menace to the world's aquatic ecosystems, since the nets used can often kill billions of other aquatic organisms and stretches of reef each year when they dredge the sea bottom.

2. Overfishing has contributed to the ongoing collapse of many coastal communities, since fishermen can no longer sustain their livelihood. It also can take fish away from poor people, who lsometimes live on very little else.

3. Fish bred in fish farms often suffer from disease due to this "factory farming" type method, and are heavily antibiotic laden, which contributes to antibiotic resistant forms of disease developing. The selective breeding of such fish as are bred for fish farms also can have dangerous implications for wild fish if they escape the farms and mate with wild fish, since gentic diversity is adversely reduced in the oceans this way. Fish on farms also are largely fed on wild fish remains.

4. Fish makes up only around 2% of calories of people who live in the West, but contributes to a large amount of the damage outlined in point 1.

5. The omega 3 fatty acids touted in fish are easily available through other more healthy sources, including flaxseed and walnuts, which do not have antibiotic residues, heavy metal buildup in tissues etc. in the same way fish do.

6. Some recent scientific studies have demonstrated that fish have the capacity to learn, and may have at least the intelligence equal to that of domestic cats or dogs. They also have advanced nervous systems, and pain receptors in their neurological make up.

Just some points on fish. I'll let you make up your own mind.

Answer 2

No.  And we just spent an incredible day out on the lake fishing!  We catch and release and let me tell ya,  today we caught quite a bit.

Always a good day when I outfish my hubby :)

Anyway, as to your question:  Seafood is one of my favorite things to eat.

EDIT

Matthew:  How can you not read, I didn't say I don't eat fish!  Are you crazy.  I said seafood is my favorite!  We were catching and releasing because my hubby is an avid outdoorsman and believes in putting the fish back into this particular lake for reasons I'm not taking up a page to explain.  He will be in a tournament this weekend catching walleye and he'll keep them.  Where the helk did you get anything different from my answer???????

Answer 3

We don't need any nutrients from fish to be healthy.  In fact, according to the American Dietetic Association, vegetarian and vegan diets have many health benefits, such as lower rates of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, obesity, and even cancer.  A vegan diet has also been shown to reverse heart disease, as well as relieve the pain caused by arthritis.  Vegetarians and vegans also live an average of 10 years longer than omnivores.

Since eating fish (or any other animal or animal product) is not necessary for us to survive or maintain a healthy body, we are killing animals merely for our own pleasure.  I do believe this is cruel.

They feel pain, they suffer, they suffocate as they're brought up from the ocean.  The fishing industry is also extremely harmful to the environment.

Answer 4

Yea, I find it cruel. Most of the fish in the US are raised on "fish farms" which treat their fish really badly. Plus, I have pet fish that I really care about so I couldn't live with myself eating them, much less eating ANY animal!

Answer 5

straight up no

Answer 6

Yes, eating fish is as cruel as eating any other animal, for all the reasons that have already been pointed out.

BlueSea, how can you abstain from eating fish for reasons of cruelty but still fish? Even if it's catch-and-release, you're still hooking the poor little guys in the middle of their normal, everyday lives.

Answer 7

I take it you've never seen how shark fins are extracted.

Answer 8

Have you ever struggled to breathe? Do you know anyone with severe asthma or emphasema? Do you think that their suffering is cruel given that their life threatening diseases are so severe? Are you happy for them that there is medication to ease their pain and discomfort? So what were you saying about the fish? Aren't they caught with cruel hooks or lifted from the sea in nets? Have you ever witnessed one of them struggling to get back into the water? Ever seen one of them in the bottom of a boat gasping for air?   I have. I think their lives are as precious to them as the asthmatic's life is precious or the person who is suffering from emphasema's is.

Furthermore, Jacques Cousteau -- and who knew the sea better than he? -- Cousteau swore that the oceans of the planet were so polluted that he would eat nothing from them. Fish are loaded with Salmonella and Mercury -- neither one of which is a good thing for a human to ingest. And as for the nutrients available in them - there are much better sources of Omega 3, 6, & 9  in Organic food grade Hemp Seed and Flax Meal and protein is definitely not an issue. Sorry. I cannot agree with you on any level. In fact when you can create life -- and I do not mean propagate or procreate  -- when you can create life, perhaps you would be entitled to take a life. I think if you could create a life you would not want to take it.

Answer 9

Yes. I saw a lot of fishing when I was a kid. They got hooks caught in their throats and they would fight to get away. The fish that gave a stronger fight to survive was considered more challenging and entertaining. Then they would get a "stringer" stuck through their mouths and gills. Sometimes they would get their heads cut off and their guts torn out while they were still alive. If they didn't feel any pain, well, they sure acted like they did. It's just something people say so they can feel more comfortable with themselves.

Answer 10

i don't eat fish v/c im a vegi, the fish often get sliced 2 bits b/c of the super thin nets they're caught in, also, the pressure change while being pulled out of deep water causes their eyes 2 pop out & stomachs 2 come out of their mouth, im serious. I used 2 eat fish  but not anymore

Answer 11

No that is the only meat I eat...fish that swam in the ocean...

Answer 12

no not really

Answer 13

Before reading my answer, consider this: Fish, it has been proved, ARE SENTIENT BEINGS, and are fully capable of suffering as much, if not more, than any other animal.

As to your question, yes. It is because if they are caught with a hook, it is EXTREMELY painful. (Fish, have many, many sensitive nerve endings around their mouths, like chickens do in their beaks.) But whether they are caught with nets or fishing rods, they still suffer when brought out of the water, since they can't breathe, so they continue gasping and wriggling helplessly. Often times they have their bellies cut open, and have their organs dripping out, while still alive!  And all of this is happening because they were hungry. Now ask yourself, "That's not cruel?"

Answer 14

I think it is cruel, not only to the fish but also to our ecosystem. We are taking fish that are for the animals in the ocean to eat. Lots of animals are starving to death due to us over fishing. Plus so many Dolphins and other animals die in nets that are used to fish.

Answer 15

For the last year I have been a pescitarian, which means I haven't eaten any animal products except for fish.  Last week I finally decided that I don't want to eat fish anymore.

I am sure fish feel pain.  They have a nervous system and they thrash around when they can't breathe.  Also, they are sometimes gutted alive.  That is not something I am willing to be a part of.

Also, overfishing and diseases that fish carry helped me in deciding.

Even this past year I refused to eat fish from China.

I feel like I can't say one animal doesn't deserve to suffer when another one does.  We don't need the nutrition that can be obtained from fish.  You can get that from other things that didn't have to die for your greedy mouth :)

I feel a lot better now that I don't eat fish.

Bluesea:  Catch and release is the cruelest of all things that can be done to fish.  That hook goes through there face then you tear it out and throw them back.  You weren't even going to use the fish so why did you bother catching them?  It might make sense if you hooked them for your family to eat, but you did it because you think it is fun to be cruel.

Answer 16

no not really i eat fish

Answer 17

No. Fish have no feelings, like a plant. Fish also provide our body with many things we need,

Answer 18

nope

Answer 19

I think ending an animal's life for the benefit of your tastebuds is cruel, yes.  Granted, I can see the difference between a fish living a normal life in the ocean and a cow living on a feedlot, but it's still killing.  And fish present an ecological concern as well.  There is nothing in fish that we can't get elsewhere.  Fish don't *make* omega-3, they eat it and it accumulates in their flesh.  But we can eat it from the same source (marine algae) as they do, plus there are other sources available to us as well (flax seed and flax oil, walnuts and other sources.)