Letter: Don't eat fish on the grounds of suffering (1)

From John Theophilus, Milkwall, Gloucestershire, UK

Graham Lawton wrote a typically interesting analysis of the environmental and sustainability issues around his decision to abstain from eating animals and birds but eat fish (largely for minimum environmental impact) (13 February, p 36).

I also aim to minimise damaging the planet while trying to lead a fairly normal life. I, too, haven’t gone down the path of veganism, preferring a smidgen of animal protein in my diet. But I have abandoned fish on animal husbandry grounds.

There is a long-standing cultural belief that sentience and ability to suffer decline in the order fur, feather, fin. Standard “acceptable” harvesting processes have evolved to suit. I keep reading of research indicating that fish are at least as sentient as birds and as liable to distress and pain. Viewed through this lens, “normal” fishing practices look barbaric.

I wouldn’t eat chickens that had been killed by being swept up in a net and left hanging there until they suffocated. I suspect most people wouldn’t either.

I get animal protein from tiny portions of animals and birds humanely and sustainably farmed and killed. I use these to flavour much larger portions of vegetables. Bon appetite!