Ten fishy facts for Seafood week

We’ve compiled ten facts about fish, and why they should be respected rather than eaten.

1. Did you know fish are exceptionally good at communicating with each other? They speak with squeaks, squeals, have regional accents and even sing to their partners.
2. Fish are green-fingered. Some species tend to well-kept gardens, encouraging the growth of tasty algae and weeding out types they don’t like.
3. Some fish have longer sustained attention spans than humans. Small fish can concentrate for nine seconds, compared to eight in humans.
4. Studies conclusively show that fish can feel pain. Yet thousands at a time are factory farmed in crowded, filthy cages, before being clubbed, gassed or asphyxiated.
5. Wild-caught fish don’t have it any better. They are literally dragged from the sea, causing them to ‘drown’ in air. It can take between 55 – 250 minutes for them to die.
6. Fishing also causes significant damage to the environment. Wild stocks have become depleted by as much as 90 per cent, with species such as bluefin tuna now endangered. Other marine life also gets caught in fishing nets, including turtles, whales and dolphins.
7. On farms, shrimps and prawns have one of their eyestalks cut off with a razorblade, to speed up their reproduction process.
8. And it’s not just sea life that suffers. Workers are trafficked into slavery on Thai trawlers to catch food for farmed prawns, which are then killed for people to eat.
9. Thankfully there are many tasty plant-based foods on the market to give you that fishy taste, including V Bites Fishless Steaks, Fish-free Fingers and Smoked Salmon Slices.
10. Omega 3 can also be obtained from many plant sources, including walnuts, flaxseed, rapeseed, green leafy vegetables and grains.

Sources

1. http://news.sky.com/story/noise-pollution-leaves-chatting-fish-struggling-to-be-heard-10605985
2, 3. http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/fish/hidden-lives-fish/
4, 5, 6, 7: Dark Waters, Animal Aid, 2013
8. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jun/10/supermarket-prawns-thailand-produced-slave-labour
10. http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Vegetarianhealth/Pages/Vegandiets.aspx