fresh salmon, anyone?
"Seafood is like, different, from eating cow or pig, cause like, they get to live in the sea and shit and then theyre caught, so like who cares?"
from a website:
Fish farming, or “aquaculture,” has become a billion-dollar industry, and more than 30 percent of all the sea animals consumed each year are now raised on these “farms.” Aquafarms can be based on land or in the ocean. Land-based farms raise thousands of fish in ponds, pools, or concrete tanks. Ocean-based aquafarms are situated close to shorelines, and fish in these farms are packed into net or mesh cages.
Fish slaughter plants in the U.S. make no effort to stun the fish, who are fully conscious when they start down the slaughter line. Their gills are cut, and they are left to bleed to death, convulsing in pain. Large fish, such as salmon, are sometimes bashed on the head with a wooden bat called a “priest,” and many are seriously injured but still alive and suffering when they are cut open. Smaller fish, like trout, are often killed by simply draining water away and leaving them to slowly suffocate or by packing them in ice while they are still fully conscious. Because fish are cold-blooded, allowing them to suffocate on ice prolongs their suffering, leaving them to experience excruciating pain for as long as 15 minutes before they die.
You may be surprised to learn that many of the fish in supermarkets today come from these farms-for instance, 80 percent of the salmon sold in the United States. This means that if you eat fish, you may be supporting horribly cruel fish farms that are even worse for the environment than commercial fishing.
Perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that fish farms are responsible for introducing non-native fish into areas where they can take over the habitats of indigenous species. For example, more than a million Atlantic salmon have escaped from coastal farms in the Pacific Northwest, despite fish farmers’ assurances that the fish would be safely contained. The Atlantic salmon have reproduced with great success, and they are now competing with the already-threatened Pacific salmon for food and habitat. Introducing foreign fish-farm species such as Atlantic salmon can seriously endanger native fish species and throw entire natural balances askew, with completely unknown results.
Anyone trying to decide between commercially caught fish and farmed fish should remember that they are in many respects, part of the same industry: Fish farms directly support the commercial fishing industry because fish on farms are fed large quantities of wild-caught fish. Even fish who eat plants in nature are forced to eat other fish on aquafarms so that they will grow faster. Remarkably, it takes 5 pounds of ocean-caught fish to produce 1 pound of farmed fish.
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i honestly want to shove anyone who calls himself or herself an "animal lover" or "environmentalist" if they support any kind of meat industry, the above included. and i honestly think a little less of someone when i see them heaping some cooked flesh onto their plate at dhall. i really wonder about their personal morals. im hypocritical because i still eat dairy.. im still supporting something very bad, and i hope to eliminate all animal products from my diet and life eventually. ive only been vegetarian for just over a year now so i figure i have some time ;)
ive tried to talk to my family about a meatless lifestyle, but theyre not having it. it bewilders me. people love cute and cuddly animals like kittens - they would never want to cook one of those! thats only due to social norms. personally i think a little calf is cute, and probably most americans do too.. but when it gets a little bigger, they see a steak in the making instead of a living breathing social creature. saying a calf is cute and then turning around and eating steak for dinner is the biggest disrespect for other species that i can think of. but hey, only humans count, right, when it comes down to it?? arent we the ones with the finely crafted brains???
p.s. "no disrespect to my dawgs"