this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2025
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Nice fluff piece, but it's still complete speculation as to how fish "feel" when out of water or anything else. Currently, science can't tell if a fish can hurt in the same sense that humans can.
If they come up with something dirt cheap to kill them faster, I'm all for it. No down side to give a fish the benefit of the doubt. This isn't something I'm going to worry about, though.
Broadly scientific consensus is that at least bony fish likely experience pain in all of the same quantifiable ways that humans do. They exhibit avoidance learning, they have a central nervous system, nociceptors, opiod receptors, exhibit reduced avoidance responses to noxious stimuli when given analgesics.. Etc.
The few scientists that have argued over the years that fish likely do not or cannot experience pain have been in the minority in the last 50 years, and each passing year finds decreased evidence for their claims. Dismissing it all as 'complete speculation' is.. Very inaccurate.
Worth reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_in_fish
Also - there already is "something dirt cheap to kill them faster" - hardwood fish bat. Lasts forever and instantly stuns, and with a couple of strong well-aimed blows will definitely kill.
That bat isn't feasible hauling a thousand fish in on a net, though. That's for when I catch some crappie or trout with my fishing pole.
If people can invent industrial fishing machines that net thousands of fish at a time then there's nothing stopping them from inventing a fast, clean fish kill method at scale.
If they can't, then perhaps that method of fishing is unethical and unsustainable.