this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2025
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I remember there was a study done on how to best slaughter swine (pigs).
The methods that were investigated included: a mechanical hit on the head, suffocation in CO2, and some other measures.
What was found was not only that the suffocation method caused significant stress in the animals, but also that the meat collected this way tasted way worse than meat collected through other slaughtering methods.
this could be relevant in this case: if fish suffocate slowly to death, meat producers might have a financial incentive to change that, to be able to sell better-quality meat, possibly at a higher price. anyways, it would make for good advertisement. that is why meat-producers (fish-producers) should take this seriously.
And the reason we still use CO2 slaughter instead of something like Nitrogen is because.... They already have machines built for CO2 and just don't want to pay the cost of changing practices.
Pure greed and laziness.
Also co2 is easier because you can fill a pit with it, nitrogen will just float about and disperse.
As far as I’m aware NO~2~ will fill a pit. In the industry I work in NO~2~ leaks are serious threat because the engines that are worked on are in, what is essentially, a cage that you walk down into. I’ve not experienced it myself but heard from someone who experienced it firsthand as you just start feeling sleepy. I know now that it’s because our bodies are sensitive to asphyxiation from CO~2~ but not NO~2~, so as it displaces the oxygen in our lungs you just start getting woozy and tired.
All that being said; I am not an expert. Half this is information from diesel mechanics who work with it and the other half is from random science videos. So take it with a grain of salt.
It’s just heavier??
It tends to be heavier than air, it will therefore accumulate in low places.