As Octopuses Win Welfare Protections, Fishes Should Be Next

In March 2024, Washington became the first state to enact a ban on octopus farming, and in September, California did the same. Now, a newly introduced bill in Congress could lead to a federal ban on commercial octopus farming. These landmark legislative actions reflect a growing public recognition of octopus intelligence.

Octopus protections could spark other aquatic animal welfare considerations

Octopuses are one of few aquatic animals to win meaningful welfare protections, but they are not the only underwater creatures deserving of such considerations. A growing body of research reveals that many other marine and freshwater species also exhibit complex cognition. In particular, fishes—long dismissed as simple-minded creatures—are gaining recognition for their sophisticated thinking and surprising emotional depth.

Do fishes have personalities?

Minnesota resident Holly Jorgensen has witnessed the complexity of fishes firsthand through an unlikely friendship at her lakeside home. The bond began in 2015 when Jorgensen first spotted a small green sunfish from her dock and felt an unexpected connection.

“He looked at me, like I’ve never had a fish look at me,” Jorgensen told KARE 11 News. The fish began following Jorgensen around as she swam, and she named him Greenie. Soon Greenie started eating out of Jorgensen’s hand, and even appeared to enjoy chin rubs.

For nine years now, Greenie has reappeared at Jorgensen’s dock each spring after the ice melts. Jorgensen wrote a short poem to celebrate their special relationship. She recited: “To have a friend who’s not like me is to swim in the sky and fly in the sea.”

Can fishes think and feel?

Greenie is not the only fish capable of forming meaningful bonds. At Friends of Philip Fish Sanctuary in Reno, Nevada, founder Gwendolyn Church has a unique relationship with each one of her 100-plus rescued fishes. Some of the residents eagerly swim to the front of the tank when they see Church, but hide when strangers approach.

Church also notices nuanced relationships between her rescued fishes. In one case, a fancy goldfish named Lucas lost his companion. Lucas barely ate or moved for more than a week, and Church thought he might also pass away. Then, Lucas started acting normally again. When Church consulted her veterinarian about the situation, she speculated that Lucas was grieving.

“It was incredible and heartbreaking to witness that and to see the bonds that these animals can form together, and to see just how strong his grief was,” Church said.

The latest research confirms that fishes are far more intellectually and emotionally complex than previously known. A new study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution in September illustrates that fishes and octopuses hunt cooperatively. First, a team of fishes explore the environment and locate potential prey. The fishes then communicate the options to the octopus, who selects a target and flushes it out, allowing both the fish and octopus to feed.

According to ethologist Jonathan Balcombe, author of What A Fish Knows, “[Fishes] plan, hunt cooperatively, use tools, curry favor, deceive one another, and punish wrongdoers.” Although fishes lack the anatomical brain structures typically linked to pain perception, a growing number of scientists agree that fishes likely feel pain.

The overlooked suffering of farmed fishes

As awareness of fish cognition grows, there is increasing urgency to address their welfare in our food system. Despite the fact that more fishes are farmed for food than all other animals combined, fishes lack any welfare protections under federal or state laws in the US. The rise of fish farming, which has now overtaken wild capture as the primary source of fishes for human consumption, has increased the number of fishes subjected to this gap in animal welfare policy.

Like land animals in factory farms, fishes in aquaculture operations suffer from overcrowding and inhumane slaughter methods. Due to the high density of individuals in these environments, fishes are unable to engage in natural behaviors like schooling, foraging, and migrating, causing significant distress. With minimal space to move, diseases spread easily and fishes often develop physical injuries or deformities. When their lives are cut short, common slaughter methods, such as suffocation, live gutting, and electrical stunning, likely cause excruciating pain.

Despite these harsh conditions, a recent decision in Washington state to ban commercial net pen fish farming—more easily understood as underwater factory farms—in state-owned waters offers hope that meaningful change is possible.

Toward a compassionate future for all animals

Fishes are used for food on a far wider scale than octopuses, so their welfare protections—or lack thereof—impact a much greater number of animals. While octopuses have become the darling of aquatic animal welfare, public consciousness has failed to keep pace with modern scientific findings about other underwater life. As octopuses win their well-deserved protections, fish should be the next frontier of the aquatic animal welfare movement.

To start the process of change, Church offers advice all of us can apply today: “We don’t see or interact with fishes nearly as frequently as we do any other animals, and unfortunately I think that means that most of the time we forget them. A huge thing that all of us can do is to talk about fish more.”