The researchers say that the fish feel pain just like humans and demand that traditional methods of slaughter, such as asphyxiation, be stopped immediately.
Fish feel pain the same as photo people: Istock
The researchers revealed the pain through which the fish pass during a common method of slaughter, known as “air asphyxia”. This method assumes that fish suffocate in the air or ice and can often take more than an hour.
A team from Welfare Footprint Institute aimed to understand exactly how the fish to air asphyxia reacts. In their study, the researchers found that, on average, the rainbow trout supports 10 minutes of “intense pain” during asphyxiation, reports the Daily Mail.
Focusing on the rainbow trout, the team found that, during the asphyxia in the air, the fish experience between two and 22 minutes of “intense pain”, Depending on factors such as the size of the fish and the water temperature.
Based on these findings, the researchers request the prohibition of asphyxiation in the air and the use of stunning methods. The stomage represents the procedure of insensitizing the animal before killing.
“Pain and suffering caused by asphyxiation to fish can be alleviated by stunning methods that induce rapid loss of knowledge”, The researchers wrote in their study.
For the stunning to be considered effective, “handling before slaughter must be reduced to a minimum, and the animal must become unconscious immediately after stunning, a state to persist until death“They added.
According to researchers, up to 2.2 trillion wild fish and 171 billion farm fish are killed each year.
However, several traditional methods of killing these fish are considered “inhuman”.
“Breast fish are still commonly killed by asphyxiation (suffocating by removing them), exposure to carbon dioxide, exposure to very low temperatures or bleeding without stunning ”explains the Royal Society to prevent cruelty to animals (RSPCA).
Thus, “aThis procedures take a few minutes to induce insensitivity and cannot be considered human ”they add.
Instead, the stunning methods are immediate, which means that the fish do not suffer.
“Methods of electrical stunning and percussion for fish are increasingly frequent”, The RSPCA representatives said, according to the quoted source.
These include stunning systems with water bath, in which the fish pass through electrified water to be killed.
“These systems eliminate the need to handle fish before slaughter and allow their effective stunning before they are cut”, Says RSPCA.
Although you might think that these methods would be more expensive, the researchers say it is not the case. “If correctly implemented, electrical stunning could avoid between 60 and 1,200 minutes of moderate to extreme pain for each US dollar invested in capital“They explained.
