Commercial Fishing and Fish Pain During Catch

Commercial fishing methods cause acute stress and pain to billions of fish annually through crowding suffocation and capture trauma.

Key Facts

Commercial fishing kills an estimated 0.8 to 2.3 trillion wild fish annually including bycatch
Fish trawled in nets experience barotrauma as pressure changes cause swim bladder rupture and organ damage
On-deck mortality by suffocation takes minutes to hours for most species creating prolonged suffering
Percussive stunning before killing is effective and used in some salmon and trout operations but rarely in wild fisheries

Welfare Considerations

The welfare implications of commercial wild fish harvesting are enormous in scale but largely invisible to consumers. Trawled fish experience barotrauma crushing from gear and nets, and suffocation death over minutes to hours. The sheer scale of individual fish deaths per year from commercial fishing dwarfs nearly all other sources of human-caused animal mortality. Humane slaughter methods for fish are available and used in some aquaculture operations but virtually never in wild capture fisheries.

What You Can Do

Support research and advocacy for humane slaughter requirements in commercial fishing operations
Choose seafood from fisheries using less traumatic capture methods when information is available
Reduce seafood consumption to decrease total demand from high-impact capture fisheries
Advocate for fish welfare to be included in seafood certification and labeling frameworks