By MICHAEL HANLON
Last updated at 10:35 AM on 8th March 2010
The catch for anglers: A new book claims that fish
might feel pain
To many, the notion that we should care
about the suffering of fish seems absurd.
For most, fish amount to little more than
swimming protein, a healthy food to be plucked from rivers and
seas.
But, as a disturbing new book
shows, scientists are now confident that fish, once symbolic of
dumb, primitive stupidity, do not only feel pain, but have a
complex emotional life, too.
Indeed, as the book's author says, there
is 'no logical reason why we should not extend to fish the same
welfare considerations that we currently extend to birds and
mammals'.
Do Fish Feel Pain? was written not by a
militant vegan, but by a dispassionate marine biologist - who eats
fish.
But Victoria Braithwaite's conclusion is
particularly surprising, because we are not used to thinking about
fish as sentient at all.
Their expressionless 'faces', their lack
of limbs and their alien aquatic environment make it ambiguous
whether fish should be regarded on the same level as birds,
reptiles and mammals, or lumped in with the worms, insects and
lobsters.
After all, many 'vegetarians' eat fish,
apparently convinced that a salmon is more like a lettuce than a
lamb. And apart from their backbones, they seem to have almost
nothing in common with ourselves. Either way, convincing people
that fish can suffer was never going to be easy.
The first question is whether fish are
equipped with the senses that would enable them to feel pain?
It is extraordinary that until the late
Nineties, the answer to this question was not known. In mammals,
specialised pain-detectors in the skin, known as nociceptors,
transmit signals to the brain when an injury occurs. But now we
know that fish have these, too.
The author herself has conducted
experiments on various fish to test this out.
Using two chemicals - bee venom and
vinegar - Dr Braithwaite has shown that fish which have been
injected with these 'painful' stimulants around the mouth react
very differently to those that have not - rubbing the affected area
and losing interest in their food until the poison had worn
off.
When the results were published
in 2003, they created a media storm. The angling community, for
one, was certainly displeased.
But the question of whether fish actually
suffer had still not been answered.
Even the most primitive microbes will
flinch or try to escape if attacked with a blade, electricity or
fire. This, however, is not the same as ' suffering'. An amoeba
cannot be said to suffer simply because it lacks the necessary
organ - a brain - with which to do so.
CAN fish suffer? Well, recent experiments by Dr Peter Laming, a
marine biologist in Belfast, certainly showed that a fully
developed pain 'pathway' is present in goldfish, linking receptors
in the skin, via the spinal cord, to the brain.
The question is whether they are aware,
or conscious, of pain in the same way we are. Only then could they
be said to suffer.
We do not know how consciousness arises
in humans, let alone in fish. But what we can do is
find out if fish and other animals behave in such a way that
suggests they are aware.
Scientists claim that goldfish, renowned for their
stupidity, actually have the ability to learn
Our understanding of animal intelligence
is changing all the time. Elephants, apes and dolphins, for
example, have been shown to recognise themselves in mirrors - which
requires more intelligence than it sounds. And crows are likely as
clever as apes. But what of fish?
Well, scientists in Madrid have
discovered that goldfish, previously the very byword for stupidity,
have the ability to learn and remember their way around mazes.
And male cichlids, aggressive freshwater
tropical fish, have been found to be able to gauge the fighting
abilities of potential rivals simply by watching earlier bouts.
This ability - to create a mental ranking
- is called transitive inference, and humans cannot do it until
they are four years old.
Perhaps the most convincing evidence that
fish have 'minds' comes from studies of two reef species: the
grouper and the moray eel. Swiss scientists have found that these
predators cooperate in catching prey.
The fat grouper is adept at chasing
smaller fish around the reef. But sometimes its dinner escapes into
the cracks and crevices.
And so they cleverly hunt with a partner.
If the prey flits into a tight hole, the grouper signals to its eel
'friend' which, being narrow and lithe, is able to finish the
hunt.
What is extraordinary about this is that,
aside from humans, who hunt with dogs, this is just about the only
example of two separate species cooperating in a hunt. And it
requires intelligence, memory and planning.
So, more and more scientists -
there are still sceptics - believe fish can feel
pain. Furthermore, they demonstrate intelligence and
self-awareness.
But does this really matter? Well, humans
currently kill a staggering 500,000,000,000 fish a year. And the
way we catch - and kill - fish is not pretty.
Forget the riverside angler. Huge
trawlers net fish in their tens of thousands. They are then dumped
on deck, their swim bladders swelling grotesquely in the low air
pressure. The animals slowly suffocate. It is a very unpleasant
death.
Twenty years ago nobody cared about
chickens. But these days, thanks to widespread awareness of animal
rights and the demand for better conditions, free-range poultry is
almost de
rigueur. Will fishing now go the same way?
After all, fish may be very different to
us, but that does not mean that we should disregard their plight
entirely. The question is, are we prepared to pay for the luxury of
kindness?
• Do
Fish Feel Pain? by Victoria Braithwaite, is published by Oxford
University Press, £14.99.
Read
more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1256228/Do-fish-feelings-Its-slippery-question-science.html#ixzz0nvWKS9aA
