The sentience of fish has huge implications for the way they are treated in fisheries and elsewhere. Fish are likely to suffer considerably when chased to exhaustion by trawl nets, when buried in the crush of these nets, when snared in gill nets, when impaled on hooks for use as live bait, when allowed to suffocate in air and when gutted or frozen while still conscious.

Taking into account the great numbers of animals involved, this is a huge animal welfare problem. With the possible exception of intensive animal farming, commercial fishing may cause more animal suffering than any other human activity.

Fish are sentient subpages

• fish feel pain
• fish feel fear
• implications of sentience
• Do fish feel pain? by Victoria Braithwaite
• pain in crustaceans