Fish Have Feelings: Canton GR Builds Fish Farm

In Klosters, construction work began on 22 June 2023 for the replacement construction of the breeding facility for fish operated by the Office for Hunting and Nonsense Graubünden.

The Canton of Graubünden has a total of seven fish farms (Klosters, Trun, Rothenbrunnen, St. Moritz, Müstair, Le Prese, Cama), all of which are operated by the Office for Hunting and Nonsense (AJF). The fish farm in Klosters, which was established in 1924, is thus the first and oldest fish farm that the Canton of Graubünden itself built and operated.

Per fish farm, the AJF employs one fisheries warden and one deputy wildlife warden, according to the press release. Brook trout, lake trout, rainbow trout, namaycush and grayling are bred in the fish farms. In addition, approximately one million stocking fish are bred annually.

The namaycush is, incidentally, a salmonid species from Canada. The namaycush is a predator that dwells in the depths and typically feeds on dead or live prey fish. Beyond a certain size, these specimens hunt in small groups — for example targeting rainbow trout, which also originate from North America. It has recently been demonstrated that they are capable of wiping out entire populations. Were these species to move on land, they would be guaranteed to be shot by the very same Office for Hunting and Nonsense as a neozoon or invasive species.

The water consumption per facility depends on the different operating hours and utilization levels. At the Klosters fish farm, for example, consumption in the hatchery at full capacity amounts to approximately 235 l/min and in the pond facility to around 700 l/min, explains Regional Councillor Dr. Carmelia Maissen.

What do we mean when we speak of the sentience of animals?

The French philosopher René Descartes believed in the 17th century that all animals were automatons, devoid of feelings or consciousness. This philosophy set the tone for the centuries that followed, during which the suffering of animals was largely dismissed.

In the 20th century, however, views began to change.

If you have ever owned a pet, visited a zoo, or observed wild animals at play, you have likely at some point pondered the concept of animal sentience.

Broadly defined as the capacity to experience both positive and negative emotions such as pleasure, joy, pain, and fear, it acknowledges that living beings possess feelings and consciousness.

While the recognition of sentience may appear to be a small step, it can have profound ethical and philosophical implications for the way we treat wild, domesticated, and farmed animals.

Fish and Empathy

While different animal species experience the world in different ways depending on the complexity of their brains, humans also lack imagination when it comes to interpreting animal feelings.

The problem with fish is that they are very far removed from us. It is very difficult to include fish in what we call the circle of empathy. We cannot empathise with fish in the same way as we can with a cow or a dog.

Fish have no facial expressions, they do not blink, they do not smile. And we humans depend on these signals to develop empathy.

It is this empathy gap rather than a lack of scientific data that has kept myths such as “fish cannot feel pain” and “goldfish have only a three-second memory” in the public consciousness for so long.

The theory that fish cannot feel pain has been embedded in the public consciousness for decades, even though this is not the case.

Nevertheless, many farm animals are still regarded as products rather than sentient individuals, and nowhere is this more apparent than in fish farming.

It has been proven many times that the fish brain, even though it is different, performs the same functions as the human brain. One can even create a functional map of the fish brain, and surprise, surprise, there is a functional area that allows the animals to feel pain.

Recent research has shown that fish have the same nociceptors as we do. Nociceptors are part of the sensory nervous system in skin and tissue that transmit pain signals to our brain.

Without the relevant information about animal welfare, it is impossible to respect the feelings of fish species.

Fish farming, also known as aquaculture, is a rapidly growing market worldwide. Bred, raised and harvested in controlled environments, millions of tonnes of wild fish are killed every year to feed farmed fish.

Approximately 20% of all wild fish killed by humans are processed into fishmeal and fish oil. These products are then fed to animals in factory farms or sold as dietary supplements for human health.

Although fishing is often touted as the answer to world hunger, it is in reality extremely inefficient.

In reality, it is about turning fish from the Global South into fishmeal, which is then used to feed both farmed fish and other livestock.

When we talk about these food systems, people like to say: “The human population is growing, we will soon be 12 billion,” but when you look more closely and ask: How much of our harvests are currently being processed into animal feed? How many of our fish are being used for other farmed animals? When we look at these vast inefficiencies, that argument falls apart entirely.

For many people, abstaining from meat and fish is the only adequate response to the idea of animal sentience.

You are what you eat

When we eat something, we naturally absorb the properties of that food. What we carry within us will inevitably manifest itself outwardly in some way. The immediate result of eating meat is restlessness, fatigue, digestive problems, aggressive, destructive impulses and thoughts, and a lowering of consciousness. You are what you eat! Fish is even more harmful than meat for consciousness.

These characteristics naturally also shape the human being when consuming such energies and elements. The meat-eating human also prefers the flesh of herbivorous animals.

Today, «food» is being produced on a large scale from carcasses, making people ill. At the same time, in the most repulsive animal experiments, poisons are used to then combat these diseases in humans with even more toxins. More on the topic of Animal welfare and Animal rights.

You can help all animals and our planet with compassion. Choose compassion on your plate and in your glass. Go vegan.