It doesnt matter what way you kill them because fish do not feel pain. There brain is to small and can not comprehend pain. Even though you may do something painful to it and the fish will react like it felt pain, it was just the natural instinct of the fish to try and get away. Its just an escape mechanism they use.
How do you know that is true? IMO its not ok to kill the fish any old was as you are saying. It is best to do it in a simple and quick way, rather than in any way the the fish could possibly feel it. And if they couldent fell pain/not be hurt why would we do this in the first place.
Lauren, I'm so sorry I have to post this. :sad I hope you understand i'm not trying to hurt you, just trying to clear this up. Fish CAN feel pain, they do have nerves like we do, just in smaller quantities, and they are not all over like our skin. A fish will fight when cought on a fishing line because there is not enough nerves to tell it, "ouch go that way", but there is enough nerves to tell it "hey somethings got me". Pain is an electro-chemichal signal to the brain that something is wrong with a bodily tissue. If they could not feel pain, they wouldn't even flinch if you tried to do something like cut off a fin or try to gut it alive.
Its pointless to debate whether or not fish feel pain, you can't ask a fish if something hurt them. Luckily, he had a swift death, I hope it was better than the pain he was feeling while alive
Here is an article regarding research on fish and pain - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2983045.stm - Regardless whether fish feel pain or not, I would think common sense and compassion would suggest that any living creature who depends on us for care deserves enough respect to be dispatched in the most humane and quick way possible, when it is necessary.
"OUR" perception of pain is quite misleading. Someone might find some things more painful than others. What would you call pain in humans? I'm not talking emotional pain or the like. Pinch yourself, what is that feeling. It is nervous stimuli designed to protect you from danger. Like has been said, we cannot ask a fish if something hurts. Have you seen Terminator 2? John connor asks if the terminator can feel anything. The response is, "My sensors can detect damage, the data could be called pain"
I think this is something of an unasnwerable question. pain is subjective. perhaps the fish doesn't feel pain the way we do, but it certainly feels discomfort. if they didn't feel any pain they wouldn't go into shock when their fins get nipped a bit. they are certainly aware of pain in some manner. they definately don't have the same nervous system as we do but they CERTAINLY feel pain and discomfort. so i guess there is no reason to treat them like they don't feel anything just because they don't howl when they are hooked on a fish line.
so let's stick to putting down our sick fish humanely and swiftly.
Put your fish in a bowl with ice cubes and water. It was hard for me to do, but is VERY quick! I read this in a fish book somewhere and it really does work. :sad
