Also note that many farmed fish are carnivorous so other smaller fish are caught from the wild and killed to feed them. There is some suffering in how they are caught. E.g., those fish are left to suffocate in the air which is like maximally stressful for them, although it depends on species how long they are suffocating. Maybe most die quickly, I’m not sure. And they have to spend some time in really crowded nets. I don’t know much about enviromental impacts of all this. But maybe it doesn’t matter much because they can’t catch any more of those fish from the ocean than they do now anyway so I’m not sure if the fish you would eat would change how many they catch.
Also, they are starting to farm insects to feed fish (to supplement protein from wild-caught fish which I think is currently limiting how fast fish farming can grow). Are insects sentient? Do they suffer in farm conditions? We don’t know but I’d rather we didn’t farm trillions of them just in case the answer to both questions is a yes.
Ah the elasticities is a good point! And the suffering of the smaller fish is also important.
Elasticities is super interesting because something else I was considering was “would I be willing to work for a company like this”. The elasticity is relevant in a pretty different way when I’m asking “should I eat this fish” vs. “should I work to expand the reach of this company that I think on balance treats fish well.” There could be a scenario where I’m willing to work for the company but still not eat fish (that world is not this world though—I’m not convinced they treat fish that well)
Also note that many farmed fish are carnivorous so other smaller fish are caught from the wild and killed to feed them. There is some suffering in how they are caught. E.g., those fish are left to suffocate in the air which is like maximally stressful for them, although it depends on species how long they are suffocating. Maybe most die quickly, I’m not sure. And they have to spend some time in really crowded nets. I don’t know much about enviromental impacts of all this. But maybe it doesn’t matter much because they can’t catch any more of those fish from the ocean than they do now anyway so I’m not sure if the fish you would eat would change how many they catch.
Also, they are starting to farm insects to feed fish (to supplement protein from wild-caught fish which I think is currently limiting how fast fish farming can grow). Are insects sentient? Do they suffer in farm conditions? We don’t know but I’d rather we didn’t farm trillions of them just in case the answer to both questions is a yes.
Ah the elasticities is a good point! And the suffering of the smaller fish is also important.
Elasticities is super interesting because something else I was considering was “would I be willing to work for a company like this”. The elasticity is relevant in a pretty different way when I’m asking “should I eat this fish” vs. “should I work to expand the reach of this company that I think on balance treats fish well.” There could be a scenario where I’m willing to work for the company but still not eat fish (that world is not this world though—I’m not convinced they treat fish that well)