VegEco
Animals

Fish, sentience and aquaculture

Aquaculture is the fastest-growing food sector on earth. This hub covers welfare science, fishmeal supply chains, bycatch and ocean-floor damage.

4
Stories
3
Desks
4
Contributors
6,095
Words

Questions this hub answers

Do fish feel pain?
The scientific consensus supports it: fish possess nociceptors, show trade-off behaviours after noxious stimuli, respond to analgesics, and demonstrate learning and avoidance consistent with the experience of pain.
Is farmed fish better for the ocean than wild-caught?
Not straightforwardly. Carnivorous farmed species such as salmon are fed wild-caught forage fish, so farming can increase rather than relieve pressure on wild stocks.