Italy is among the European countries that consume the most fish. The industry, however, does not define any method that respects animal welfare.
According to the most recent figures published by Api, the Associazione piscicoltori italiani (Italian Fish Farmers' Association), fish farming in Italy has surpassed three hundred million euros in turnover and produces 54,000 tonnes of fish across twenty different species, distributed across more than seven hundred production sites. Trout top the production volume rankings, farmed at around 29,000 tonnes per year, followed by sea bream and sea bass at over 17,000.
And the number of individual fish farmed? That figure is not available, unlike the case for chickens, pigs, cows and other vertebrates — which speaks volumes about the perception that our society, broadly speaking, has of these animals, who are currently the most exploited in numerical terms yet the least protected by law.
An investigation we published in recent days shows how fish are farmed at a facility in the province of Treviso. The images are extremely disturbing: a sturgeon is violently slammed to the ground, some fish are literally hooked through the mouth and hurled into baskets, others are broken in two, and there is a great deal of blood both in the water and on the floor.
Inspections do not help prevent these situations: according to statements made by the production manager, vets reportedly overlook certain unlawful practices and warn the company before proceeding with their visits. But many of the documented practices are legal, because, as noted at the outset, adequate protections for this species are lacking, both at European and national level.
What is more, in Italy, farms like this one could be certified as practising "sustainable aquaculture" — a labelling scheme developed by the Ministry of Agriculture together with fish producer associations (Api) and shellfish producer associations (Ama) in 2020, which risks profoundly misleading consumers. The certification specification lacks a clear definition of fish welfare, as well as the basic parameters needed to eliminate the main causes of suffering for farmed fish. These include, above all, the absence of more appropriate stunning and slaughter methods for the different fish species involved, which in practice translates into the widespread use of brutal and painful procedures.
In the case of the farm we investigated, slaughter is carried out irregularly, with violence inflicted on the animals and avoidable suffering — such as the application of electrical cable clamps directly to the fish's gills, a particularly sensitive part of the body. When electric current is used, as recommended by the European Commission, the animals are held out of the water, meaning the electric discharge does not circulate uniformly through them, so they are not stunned effectively or immediately.
In reality, however, the majority of trout farmed at the facility are not stunned with electric current, as the recommendations require. Four out of five trout are destined to become fillets, so their appearance at the point of sale is paramount. But when the electrical parameters used during stunning are not appropriate, blood spots can form on the flesh. This would compromise the product's appearance and risk leaving it unsold. As a result, eighty per cent of the trout farmed at this facility are killed by asphyxiation.
Fish are recognised by numerous institutions, including the World Organisation for Animal Health, as sentient beings, capable of experiencing pain and fear. This means that their welfare cannot be ignored when discussing sustainability, as is the case with the ministerial labelling scheme — otherwise we would have to describe it as a certification that is misleading in every respect.
The opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of LifeGate.
