Should we care how fish feel? In his 1789 treatise An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, English philosopher Jeremy Bentham articulated an idea that has been central to debates about animal welfare. When considering our ethical obligations to other animals, Bentham wrote, the most important question is not, "Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?" Conventional wisdom has long held that fish cannot — that they do not feel pain. In 2014, the BBC invited Penn State University biologist Victoria Braithwaite to discuss fish pain and welfare with Bertie Armstrong, head of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation. Armstrong dismissed the notion that fish deserve welfare laws as "cranky" and insisted "the balance of scientific evidence is that fish do not feel pain as we do". That’s not quite true, says Braithwaite. It is impossible to definitively know whether another creature’s subjective experience is like our own, but that’s beside the point. She an...
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