INVESTIGATION: ABUSIVE PRACTICES IN INDIAN FISH PRODUCTION
Animal Equality’s latest investigation exposes the cruel and illegal practices in the fishery sector and inefficient utilisation of precious resources like water and land.
Eggs are squeezed from female fish, they are overcrowded, crushed to death, asphyxiated by leaving them out of the water or on ice, and violently clubbed to death. These are some of the many abusive practices exposed.
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Transcript (English — en)
animal equality conducted an
investigation to expose the cruel and
inhumane methods prevalent in the
fisheries sector
several hatcheries fish and shrimp farms
and fish markets in west bengal
tamilnadu andhra pradesh and telangana
were documented as a part of this
investigation
india contributes about 6.3 percent of
the world's fish
production and as it becomes more and
more commercialized
the fishery and aquaculture industry has
adopted
abusive production practices
this cycle of cruelty begins with a
process called fish milking
in which the eggs from a female fish are
squeezed out
by hand fish suffer from excruciating
pain
trauma and stress during this process
the fingerlings are packed in small
plastic bags and are transported to the
farms
[Music]
intensive type of fishery and
aquaculture adopts various methods like
artificial pawns
recirculating aquaculture system open
sea cages
these methods put the animals in a very
unnatural and uncomfortable environment
thousands of fish shrimps and other
animals are reared in small enclosures
overcrowded fish suffer from stress
aggression
and physical injuries such as fin damage
overcrowding can also lead to poor water
quality
leaving the fish with less oxygen to
breathe
at the farms fish are given feed laden
with antibiotics to grow their bodies
unnaturally fast
in a short period of time this blatant
and unregulated use of antibiotics
leads to antibiotic resistance among
consumers
leading to fatal conditions india is
rated as one of the top countries for
antibiotic resistance
the lifespan of carp can be 20 years but
those bred for consumption
are slaughtered within a year
many of the fish are crushed to death by
the weight of other fish
when they are caught in nets and dumped
into containers
when taken out of water fish try
desperately to escape
and return to the sea the traditional
method for killing farmed fish
is to asphyxiate them by leaving them
out of the water
or on ice leading to a slow and
agonizing death
fish production also violates human
rights scientific studies have proven
that children who are exposed to such
horrific acts of cruelty
become desensitized to the suffering of
others
including humans this is also a blatant
violation of the laws
related to prohibition of child labour
fish farms adopt water intensive
practices for sustenance and pump out
large quantities of groundwater
which comes from rivers like krishna
godavari and kaveri
a typical one acre pond with five foot
depth
would require over six million liters
per single filling
considering the looming threat to
climate change these rivers may dry up
or change course in the near future
leading to drastic reductions of the
water table
in the region fishery and aquaculture
farms require large tracts of land
they are mostly set up in areas with an
abundance of water
naturally such areas are most suitable
for agriculture
due to easy availability of water
however
thousands of hectares of fertile land is
now converted into water
bodies this has reduced the agricultural
yield
from these areas and it also threatens
the food security of the region
fish that reach the market are sold in
very unhygienic conditions
they are thrown in containers and
covered in ice while they are fully
conscious
their gills are cut without prior
stunning resulting in them bleeding to
death
they are also left in the open
containers to suffocate on land
just as we would suffocate in water
slowly
and painfully
some species of fish like catfish are
kept alive
and slaughtered at the market
animal equality has presented these
findings to the government of india
along with a list of recommendations to
reduce the suffering of fish
please urge the government of india to
introduce these recommendations
you