Fishing facts that will make us never want to consume fish again.

• For every kilo of shrimp on our dinner table, 52 kilos of other sea animals are killed and tossed back into the sea.
• When we buy shrimp from Thailand we support slave labour, men are bought, kept on fishing vessels, and forced to do 20 hour shifts.
• There are no legal requirements for the humane slaughter of fish (not that, that makes a difference, since there is no such thing as ‘humane slaughter’).
• In tuna farms, small tuna are dumped into netted pens, fattened on pellets of concentrated fish flesh, and killed if they don’t die first from parasites.
• 70 – 80% of the salmon marked ‘wild’ is actually farmed.
• In 55 years, humans have managed to wipe out 90% of the oceans top predators. These include sharks, Bluefin tuna, swordfish, marlin, and king mackerel.
• If these current trends continue, researches predict that agriculture will outgrow the supply of fishmeal by 2020.
• A 2006 study of catch data predicted, if fishing rates continue apace, the globes fisheries will collapse by 2048.
• Imported farmed shrimp is often filthy, containing antibiotics, chemical residues, mouse/rat hair, and pieces of insects.
• Research has shown that fish feel pain and stress, and fishing practices show evisceration, starvation and asphyxiation.
• Farmed salmon has 10x the amount of cancer causing organic pollutants than wild salmon.
• Farmed salmon is grey in colour, a pink colour and a fishy smell are artificially added.
• Chicken faeces is one of the main ingredients in farm fish feed.
• Farm raised mussels contain 6x more dibutlyin than wild mussels. Dibutlyin is used in PVC plastics and can impair immune system functionality.
• Between 2005 – 2010, 25% of food borne illnesses caused by imported food, involved seafood.
• 31.5 million tonnes of fish caught from the ocean each year is ground up for animal feed.
• 86% of fish is imported, half of those imports are factory farmed.
• 300,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises die each year after becoming entangled in fishing equipment.
• Around 73 million sharks, are thrown back into the ocean each year, with their fins cut off.
• 27 million tonnes of fish is thrown away each year. That’s enough to fill the Titanic 600 times.
• Farmed tilapia in  China are fed pig and goose manure – this poop contains salmonella.
• If you were fed a plate of sushi alongside all the animals that were killed to get it to you, the plate would be over 1.5 meters wide.
• In 2009, illegal antibiotics were found in three types of imported fish from China.
• In Vietnam, fish is kept fresh with ice made from bacteria filled tap water.
• More than 28,000 sea turtles are captured each year in the skimmer trawl nets used to catch shrimp.
• 50% of swordfish caught are tossed back. 77% of those tossed back are already dead.
• Globally, illegal fishing is estimated to be worth as much as 126405500000.00 South African Rand.
• 20 of the worlds albatross species are under threat from illegal fishers.
• The fishing of wild salmon impacts 137 species.
• 20% of the weight of tuna catch is ‘chucked’ back as bycatch. Casualties typically include: turtles, rays, dolphins, sharks, and endangered albatross.
• Longlines with baited hooks can extend up to 81 kilometres. These attract and kill a huge range of sea mammals.
• Sharks kill 12 people per year. People kill 11,417 sharks per hour.
• 90% of the oceans large fish have already been fished out.
• In a year, Scotland’s fish farming creates as much nitrogen as the sewage of 3.2 million people.

The fishing industry is astronomically large, and it’s a sad fact after years of overfishing the world’s seas have been left in a situation where demand far outstrips supply. Fishing have caused untold levels of pollution, destruction and injustice. There are hundreds of notions to make the switch to going vegan, but above all, do it for ethical reasons. www.howdoigovegan.com

~ Active Vegan ~