U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Common Carp

Sense a pattern emerging here? The RSPCA certainly seem to think so. A report by the RSPCA in April 1994 concluded:

"There is little to support the supposition that animals with larger brains experience pain in a more meaningful way than those with smaller brains; simply that they use neural structures similar to our own to interpret it. There is no reason to believe that fish are not achieving the same processing effect in other parts of the Central Nervous System. All the fundamental structures and modulation processes necessary to achieve a perception of pain are present in fish."

And even today on the RSPCA website in giving advice to potential fish owners for their own home aquariums, they advise:

"Fish are very delicate and sensitive. They should not be caught and moved by hand as this is very distressing for them and they are easily injured."

So, let's go with our common sense here. The UK's leading animal charity reckons that even handling your pet fish in a rough way causes them distress. What do you suppose shoving a hook through their mouth, juggling them in the air while you get them on a set of scales and watching them gasp for air might do for their state of mind? Probably not very calming for them I suspect.

NOAA The Joys of Commercial Fishing

Ok. So angling is not a great experience for our friend the fish. What about commercial fishing. Is that any better from a 'pain' perspective? In short, no. It is much worse. What typically happens in commercial fishing is that the boats now use enormous drift nets that are sometimes miles long to scoop tons of fish. First off these also have the immediate effect of killing dolphins, porpoises and turtles in their masses. Secondly, as these nets are dragged along the fish are squeezed and bounced against each other, often for hours at a time, and as "fish are very delicate and sensitive" we can only imagine what that must feel like as their scales are rubbed either against each other, or even in the mesh of the nets themselves. Thirdly, as these nets can be dragged up from great depths the fish might also have to contend with the pressure changes that brings, which can cause internal rupturing, eyes to pop out of their sockets and stomachs to pop out of their mouths. This is really no different from a diver that gets 'the bends' because they have come to the surface too quickly. We have hyperbaric chambers to help us out when we do this, but the fish obviously does not get the same courtesy. Fourthly, even when the fish makes it to the surface its suffering isn't over, because they are then dumped unceremoniously onto the decks of the trawlers where they not only cannot breathe, but also stand a good chance of being crushed to death as the weight of the rest of the catch piles down on top of them. Fifthly, as if they haven't put up with enough in terms of 'nightmare ways to die' they are then either manhandled, often by pitchfork, some being stabbed in the process, into holds ready to be taken back to shore or if they are non-target fish (“bycatch”), then they may be thrown overboard having just effectively been tortured, suffocated and stabbed. Nice.