Drone Footage Reveals Cruelty of UK Fish Slaughter Boats
Animal Equality's recent investigation into UK fish slaughter boats off the coast of Scotland has uncovered shocking findings of mistreatment and abuse. The investigation exposed thousands of incidents of animal cruelty of two major fish suppliers, which have ties to the United States. The overcrowded and inhumane conditions on these fish slaughter boats inflict physical and psychological distress on the fish, resulting in gruesome deaths and extensive suffering.
➡ Discover more about the investigation findings: animalequality.org/news/uk-fish-slaughter-boats
Animal Equality is calling on the UK government to establish stronger animal welfare laws that protect fish and require CCTV cameras in fish slaughterhouses to hold these corporations accountable. Animal Equality hopes to raise awareness and pressure industry leaders and lawmakers to take action immediately.
It's time to recognize that fish are more than mere commodities; they are intelligent, social, and emotional beings who deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. By choosing plant-based alternatives instead of meat, dairy, eggs, or other animal products, we can help reduce the demand for this cruel practice and support a more compassionate and sustainable food system. Join our Love Veg movement today: LoveVeg.com!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUBSCRIBE & SHARE to support animals ➡ https://www.youtube.com/@animalequality
LEAVE THEIR SUFFERING off your plate ➡ https://loveveg.com/
BECOME an ANIMAL PROTECTOR ➡ https://animalequality.org/volunteer
SUPPORT our work ➡ https://animalequality.org/donate/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnimalEquality/
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/animalequality/
twitter: https://twitter.com/animalequality
linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/animal-equality/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Featured in
Transcript (English — en)
Did you know that the fish products
that you see packaged in your supermarket
are most likely to have come
from fish farms like this one?
These facilities are basically floating
factory farms
where fish often spend their brief lives
confined in cramped,
dirty and lice ridden pens,
waiting to be sucked up
onto boats for slaughter
or transport to land.
Few people are aware of what
life is like for fish in these farms.
Fewer people still know how
these sensitive animals
are treated at the time of slaughter.
In 2021, we released powerful
investigative footage
showing fish being
thrown to the ground,
beaten and having their gills
painfully cut while conscious
in an on-land slaughterhouse.
The facility is operated by a UK corporation
formerly known as the
Scottish Salmon Company
which supplies major US supermarkets.
A year later, we captured
evidence in the US
of fish slowly suffocating after being left out of water,
being beheaded while conscious
and ground up alive
inside an on-land
catfish slaughterhouse in Mississippi.
This facility supplies major
US grocery stores and restaurants,
like Kroger and Cracker Barrel.
The investigation was featured on NBC News
and shocked the public who called for
stronger protections for fish by the US Government.
Now we’ve gone one step further and
filmed slaughter of a different kind.
The industry often confines
and kills fish at sea,
returning to land with their flesh to be packaged.
The public and authorities have little knowledge
of what goes on in these slaughter boats.
Even if you get near these boats,
it is hard to tell whether rules are being broken.
The slaughter process is often hidden.
That’s why we decided to pack our bags
and head to Scotland.
Using drones, Animal Equality
has gained access to
the secretive Scottish aquaculture industry,
showing the life and death of farmed fish.
Investigators filmed boats slaughtering salmon
and trout at farms
off the coast of Scotland.
Our footage unveils a series of concerning
incidents,
including fish being violently thrown.
Fish killed while they are conscious
and able to feel pain
after the machine fails to stun them;
Smaller fish being left to suffocate
in an empty bucket;
Visible overcrowding in nets
and bloodied slaughterhouse machinery;
And, fish wounded and the bleeding after being
slammed in pipes transporting them
from sea pens onto boats.
The trout farm operated
by Dawnfresh Farming
and the salmon farm operated by Loch Duart
supply Los Angeles-based Strand Foods,
which distributes
what they claim as premium
seafood products.
Both farms are certified
by a number of animal
welfare and sustainability
and quality accreditations.
Despite these credentials,
our footage shows that the experience
of salmon and trout in
these facilities is not as it may seem.
So I’m currently here in Campbelltown,
and as you can see behind me,
there are a couple of boats
that we're currently keeping an eye on.
We believe that these two boats
are going to now go to the sea pens
where the salmon are being kept,
and I believe that they're likely going
to slaughter the salmon on the boat.
On all the boats,
the fish are sucked
out of the water through a pump system.
Some of the fish desperately
try to fight the pull of the pump,
but there is no escape.
Fish have very sensitive bodies,
much more prone to injury
and pain than humans.
Imagine how they must feel, their bodies
being thrown against the metal tubing
and against each other as they are
pulled up through the machinery with great force.
It is no surprise that blood pools
at the exit of the pump system
as many fish arrive on the boat
battered and bloody.
Once the fish make it onto the boat,
they find themselves on a conveyor belt,
which leads them into a machine
that stuns them and then cuts their gills.
However, we witnessed fish
who were not stunned properly,
meaning they may still be conscious
and able to feel pain during slaughter.
We also captured footage of workers
violently throwing fish,
and animals who were
deliberately left to suffocate.
Fish instinctively stop moving
when exposed to freezing temperatures,
so experts say it is impossible to tell
just how many may still be alive
at the end of the cutting process.
One of the machines in use
is also only able
to effectively stun and kill fish
when they are of a similar size.
but we witnessed fish both big and small
making their way into the machine.
The aquaculture industry
quite cleverly uses terminology
to hide what they do.
They say things like "dispatched"
instead of "slaughter"
or "percussive stunning,"
instead of "hitting the fish on the head."
It means that many consumers aren't aware
that in the UK, farmed fish face
the very real prospect of gasping
in their final moments of life
being bludgeoned to death
or being bled to death.
All of this is very possible
because there are currently no
species-specific laws in place for farmed fish
at the time of killing.
In the UK, we are calling on
the government to make cameras
inside fish slaughterhouses
and on slaughter boats mandatory.
And we are continuing our fight
internationally to allow
for greater public
scrutiny of these facilities
to ensure animal abuse
no longer goes unpunished.
Fish are often
the forgotten victims of factory farming.
Scientists have proven that they feel pain
and feel joy.
And yet, the laws are lacking to protect them.
We must do more to fight for the animals
that are currently trapped in this cruel system.