January 29, 2018 — In December, fish welfare activists made the news when they picketed locations of Captain D’s and Long John Silver in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, to protest the killing of fish for food.

Earlier this month, Switzerland banned the practice of boiling lobsters alive to cook them, and joined Italy in outlawing the practice of transporting lobsters on ice or in icy water, arguing that it causes unjustifiable suffering before death. And a couple of months ago, National Public Radio ran a story on whether people should care if their fish dinner was treated humanely.

Acknowledging public concern, the American Veterinary Medical Association’s 2013 Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals states: “Compelling recent evidence indicates finfish possess the components of nociceptive processing systems [systems for perceiving painful or injurious stimulus] similar to those found in terrestrial vertebrates, though debate continues based on questions of the impact of quantitative differences…in major nerve bundles.”

At the crux of the debate, which has profound implications for the seafood industry, is the question, “Do fish feel conscious pain?” Concern over the issue has already led to increasing regulation of human conduct toward fish, particularly in Europe, where governments have taken steps to reduce alleged fish pain and suffering.

Although scientific research into the issue has been taking place for more than two decades, there is still no consensus one way or the other. Two recent publications, one championing the belief that fish feel conscious pain and the other asserting they do not, were released in 2016 and 2012, respectively. The authors of both publications take a deep dive into the extant published academic research on the subject, but come to opposite conclusions, alternately supporting and debunking the idea of fish consciousness and their ability to feel pain.

The New York Times 2016 Bestseller by ethologist Jonathan Balcombe, entitled “What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins” presents an array of fish studies conducted by scientists who concluded that fish are conscious and do feel pain the way that humans do. The book will soon be available in 12 languages other than English.

On the other hand, the 2012 study by seven research scientists, with University of Wyoming Professor Emeritus James D. Rose as lead author, reviews and analyzes much of this same fish research and arrives at the opposite conclusion, that “much of this research seems mission-oriented and differs, accordingly, from the more detached tradition expected of basic science.”  They further state: “One of the most conspicuous shortcomings in discussions of scientific evidence for fish pain has been the selective consideration of evidence.”

Balcombe told SeafoodSource, in email and telephone interviews, that in his opinion, “Fishes are clearly sentient…They have the capacity to feel things from conscious pain to pleasure and their behavior, social lives, and their biology show that they have many ways to experience their lives through emotions and intelligence.”

Balcombe has an undergraduate and master’s degree in biology and has been a vegan for more than 20 years.

Among the research presented by Balcombe is a study by Lynne Sneddon, the director of bioveterinary science at the University of Liverpool (U.K.), who investigated whether fish sought out relief from inflicted pain.

Read the full story at Seafood Source