Footage from trout slaughter vessel linked to Waitrose showing farmed fish left to suffocate
Footage obtained by Animal Equality of operations on a trout slaughter vessel operated by Kames, a supplier to Waitrose, shows fish suffering for prolonged periods before death. The site holds RSPCA Assured status and has won awards for animal welfare.
The footage evidences fish still moving and gasping for air after passing through the stunner, a sign that stunning had failed. Other fish were left to suffocate for far longer than the 15 seconds, in breach of RSPCA Assured standards. In at least one case, a fish was neither stunned nor bled before being sent on with dead fish to be packaged and sold.
What the footage shows
In one instance, a fish lies flapping on the floor of the vessel before a worker picks the animal up. Rather than being re-stunned, as the standards require, the fish is cut and thrown into a bin with other fish, we believe destined for human consumption.
Dr Mark Borthwick, an aquaculture specialist and OOCDTP fellow whose work focuses on on-farm behaviour change, reviewed the footage. Dr Borthwick said the problems he saw were a product of how the system had been built.
“This is a very badly designed system and prolonged asphyxiation is routine,” he said. “Horrible to see all these boxes, knowing it’s likely that they will all have at least one trout inside who is alive, asphyxiating in a pool of blood in the dark.”
The footage also shows fish crowded together, left on the grids for too long, and long delays between stunning and bleeding. Each of these can extend the time an animal spends conscious and distressed before they die.
Abigail Penny, Executive Director of Animal Equality UK, said:
Covert surveillance gives the public and lawmakers a glimpse into what is actually happening to these animals, and once again, our footage evidences that farmed fish suffer enormously in their final moments of life. These trout were dragged from the water and left to suffocate on hard metal slats, crushed and crowded together, with many still bleeding and conscious as they slowly, painfully died. The terror and confusion these animals will have experienced is unimaginable. Kames touts itself as a small-scale, artisanal, family-run business, but consumers should be under no illusion – like every other form of factory farming, this is industrialised suffering.
Continuing, she added: “The Scottish Government boasts about having introduced guidance, but guidance alone simply does not cut it. Without species-specific slaughter legislation, millions of farmed fish remain at real risk of extreme, prolonged suffering before they die.”
Animal Equality UK has submitted a formal complaint to authorities.
What you can do to help
Add your voice to the thousands of people demanding stronger slaughter protections for fish by signing our petition, and save lives by keeping animals off your plate altogether. Try our free plant-based recipes today and help us create a more compassionate world.
Protect Fish
Scientists confirm that fish feel pain and suffer. Protect these sensitive beings by choosing plant-based alternatives to animal food products.