From pescatarian to vegetarian

After a half-century of not eating meat, I’m giving up fish as well. Two things happened to nudge me toward that decision.

One: I was sitting at the Chicago Riverwalk eating a sandwich when a group fishing in front of me landed a big one. The fish was out of the water quite a while as they all posed for photographs with it. I tried to look away and had a hard time swallowing, not sure whether the fish was alive and would be released back into the water. It was released, hopefully still alive.

Two: There were no vegetarian entrees on a South Side restaurant menu, so I ordered tilapia. When the waiter served me a whole fish, I asked him to take it back and cut off the head. But my appetite didn’t recover. I still had to look at what clearly had been a fish, with fins and bony skeleton.

When I stopped eating meat in my 20s, I didn’t eliminate fish because my parents didn’t know what else to feed me, and restaurants offered little vegetarian fare. I felt okay about eating fish because it was then thought that the cold-blooded animals do not feel pain. 

Groundbreaking biologist Victoria Braithwaite published research destroying that myth, including a 2010 book Do Fish Feel Pain? Braithwaite, late professor of fisheries and biology at Penn State University, found that fish have pain receptors and exhibit behavioral changes when exposed to harmful stimuli, similar to mammals and birds, and release pain-relieving opioids in response to injury. 

Other fish biologists corroborated Braithwaite’s research. In an essay reviewing the research, Culum Brown of Marquarie University in Australia wrote, “[F]ish experience pain in a manner similar to the rest of the vertebrates. Fish perception and cognitive abilities often match or exceed other vertebrates’.”

As a result of the research findings, the American Veterinary Medical Association said in its 2013 guidelines for the euthanasia of animals: “Suggestions that finfish responses to pain merely represent simple reflexes have been refuted. … [T]he preponderance of accumulated evidence supports the position that finfish should be accorded the same considerations as terrestrial vertebrates in regard to relief from pain.” 

Sadly, commercial fishing does not consistently follow humane guidelines. Far more fish are captured and farmed than any other category of animals, and fish have the least legal protection. The United States and many other countries do not include fish in animal welfare laws. Many fish caught commercially suffocate painfully and slowly, flapping, gasping, and writhing for up to two hours.

When I first gave up meat, it was to try something different, but I gradually developed an ethical objection to it. It doesn’t make sense to continue to eat fish knowing that fish are treated worse than meat animals. 

I don’t have a reason to eat fish anymore. My parents are gone, and I usually find plenty of vegetarian choices when I go out to eat, especially at the ethnic restaurants I favor. I don’t cook fish at home and won’t miss it. I might inconvenience people who invite me for dinner, but my friends are understanding.

Becoming a true vegetarian at last, I’m aware of an ethical inconsistency: I still eat dairy products and eggs even though dairy cows and laying chickens are abused. It would be hard for me to give these up, both because I like them and because they are primary protein sources. Going vegan would require a major revamp of my diet. Or I could pay the high prices for certified humane diary products or dairy-free milk and cheeses and cage-free eggs. That is a issue for another day.