Party for the Animals MEP urges European Commission to end animal cruelty on intensive fish farms

Essere Animali, an Italian NGO has published footage taken on intensive fish farms that reveals horrific practices in an industry that so far has gone unregulated. Anja Hazekamp, Member of European Parliament for the Dutch Party for the Animals, urges the European Commission to finally take action.

Fish in intensive fish farms

Shocking footage of intensively farmed fish has emerged in Italy and has sparked fresh calls for regulation. The images represent the first investigation into Europe’s “factory farms” for fish. Fish have almost no legal protections in the European Union (EU), despite the fact that scientists have found that fish feel pain.

Anja Hazekamp, a MEP for the Dutch Party for the Animals, told the Guardian that action was needed to tackle the horrific methods of fish slaughter revealed by Essere Animali. Right now, despite evidence of widespread suffering of fish, the European Commission has no plans to legislate in this area.

Anja Hazekamp: “We asked for a regulation several times and eventually the commission came up with a report – but no legislation. It was really disappointing. Animal welfare is not a priority of this commission, especially where fish are concerned. Commercial interests are always given higher priority, unfortunately.”

As wild fish stocks continue an inexorable decline, giant factory farms at sea are already being mooted, despite the risk that they could spread disease and pollution. Estimates of the number of fish killed globally in commercial farms each year range from 37-120 billion, with as many as 2.7 trillion caught in the wild.

Sea the Truth


Already in 2010, the scientific bureau of the Party for the Animals made an eye-opening documentary that presented the declining state of our oceans and the problem of fish suffering in the fishing industry. In the documentary, interviews with leading marine biologists and scientists around the world, along with scientific research and statistics that show marine life in decline, provide strong evidence that our oceans and marine life are in great danger. Beyond the compassion issue, overfishing and fish farms are causing widespread environmental damage. The documentary shows that the best and fastest thing to do to solve the problem of overfishing and animal cruelty is to simply stop eating fish.

[Part of the text taken from The Guardian ]