A Fish Story
Images and text by Jo-Anne McArthur.
Our appetite places an enormous burden on fish and other marine life.
Over the last 60 years, global fish production has more than doubled, with half of that total coming from intensive fish farms. This will continue to rise as demand grows worldwide.
Studies have shown that fish feel pain when they’re hooked, and it’s clear that they experience great discomfort when removed from their element.
One way to understand the suffering of fish is to compare it with our sense of drowning – except that fish asphyxiate on air. When nets drag them too quickly to the surface, they, like us, suffer from “the bends”. This can make their blood vessels burst and their eyes pop.
Photography by Jo-Anne McArthur.