Left MEP Kartika Liotard: Fish should be included in farm animal welfare policy

United Left MEP Kartika Liotard of the Dutch Socialist Party is attempting to have fish sold in the European Union subject to a labelling system which would enable consumers to determine whether fish raised by aquaculture has been produced through methods which minimise the animals' suffering.

Liotard, a member of the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public health and Food Safety has long been known as a champion of animal rights. In an official 'opinion' on the European Commission's proposals on animal welfare, she proposes that fish be included in the policy. 

Liotard argues that scientific evidence demonstrates that fish are capable of feeling pain and stress, yet the current policy excludes them, leading to a situation in which most aquaculture does not meet standards which would be required for other animals. She also wants to see an enquiry into the industry's means of transport of live fish and methods of slaughter.

More attention has been paid of late to the environmental problems which aquaculture can create, but the protection of fish from unnecessary pain tends not to be taken seriously. Until recently, however, this was the case for all animals. Progress in relation to a category now extensively farmed is not infeasible.