Do Fish Feel Pain?

Reveals how scientists are discovering that fish are more intelligent and more responsive than we have been inclined to believe.
Argues that the latest scientific evidence suggests that we should widen to fish the protection currently given to birds and mammals.
Victoria Braithwaite is one of the key scientists working on the subject. She was one of a team who demonstrated, several years ago and to wide media attention, that fish have specialized pain receptors. Here, she explores the philosophical and ethical issues in an accessible and balanced way.
Avoids polemic, seeking instead to encourage debate over how the fishing and angling industries may respond to improve the treatment of fish.
While there has been increasing interest in recent years in the welfare of farm animals, fish are frequently thought to be different. In many people's perception, fish, with their lack of facial expressions or recognisable communication, are not seen to count when it comes to welfare. Angling is a major sport, and fishing a big industry. Millions of fish are caught on barbed hooks, or left to die by suffocation on the decks of fishing boats.

Here, biologist Victoria Braithwaite explores the question of fish pain and fish suffering, explaining what we now understand about fish behaviour, and examining the related ethical questions about how we should treat these animals. She asks why the question of pain in fish has not been raised earlier, indicating our prejudices and assumptions; and argues that the latest and growing scientific evidence would suggest that we should widen to fish the protection currently given to birds and mammals.