Humanely killing fish

[KGW3]

2many
I am not judging you on your principals and morals... i just can't see what point you are making.. If it is that fishing is cruel, I agree. Catch and Release.. I'm not sure but the fish gets to live.. But unless we become complete Vegans, we will always indirectly be responsible for some form of cruelty.

[Wahoo]

if its a spanish or a hoo, it gets a good wack on the head

[2manylures]

if its a spanish or a hoo, it gets a good wack on the head

And from a distance. A mate almost lost a finger to a barracoutta/couda showing how to remove the hook

[Nic]

Nic & others, Brain spiking is only for cosmetic reasons.
To produce the best sashimi, it was & may still be, best practise too, after cosmetically killing {spiking} the fish to insert a corkscrew into the brain & remove it. Apparantly the brain will transfer a small amount of heat for a short period of time to various parts of a fishes body & partially cook some flesh.
When all the above have been carried out immediately & correctly you have a fish that looks good, has no bruising, is clean inside, blood free, with pristine flesh & although dead looks as if it came straight out of the water.

Wow, that's interesting, I had heard that killing the fish instantly with a spike was invented to keep the flesh in better condition, rather than as a substitute for disfiguring smacks to the head. But I suppose it makes sense that killing a fish very quickly, however it is done, will achieve the desired result (unless you're looking to sell top-dollar bluefin!)

For me, unless it's a mackerel, I think I'll stick to spiking rather than clubbing. I find it a bit easier.

[castlemaine]

Wow, that's interesting, I had heard that killing the fish instantly with a spike was invented to keep the flesh in better condition, rather than as a substitute for disfiguring smacks to the head. But I suppose it makes sense that killing a fish very quickly, however it is done, will achieve the desired result (unless you're looking to sell top-dollar bluefin!)

For me, unless it's a mackerel, I think I'll stick to spiking rather than clubbing. I find it a bit easier.

2manylures does make a good point, never thought of it being cosmetic. I have found though that if I spike a fish in the right area Rigor Mortis is delayed. But then again, when we fish for Blackfish we spike them then bleed them as well. Flesh is perfectly white.

[oldboot]

Now you have to understand that there has always and will always be a bleeding heart sentiment arround killing anything.

But we have to realise lots of animals especilay those at the top of the food chain ( thats us ) need to kill to eat properly.

( " If god wanted me to be a vegitarian, how come he put the wrong teeth in my mouth")

In our modern insulated lifestyle we have be so sepearated from the realities of life & death, many of us fail to realise or understand these realities.

another reality is that almost without exception all fish will come to a violent and grusome death in their natural situation.

Most people on this forum would be basicly humane in their outlook and would not intensionaly make an animal suffer excessivly.
So knowing how to kill a food item efficiently is a reasonable thing to discuss.

one hopes that a fish we catch may have a better death than it would otherwise have in the wild

SO

I think we need to understand that a fish is a long way removed from a human in its make up and its perception.

To start Fish are cold blooded, so their perception of cold will be vastly different to ours....... being cold bloded will make killing by ice slurry much more efficient and humane.

Fish have a much smaller brain that ours, so they don't have surplus capacity for all the emotional bagage that we carry arround.
Much of the fishes "thinking" would be more akin to a reflex and a survival instinct.........I doubt if a fish would have a concept of "terror"...... a whale yes, a fish no.

A fishes mouth is relativly hard and would not have the concentration of nerve endings we would expect in our lips or our hands...... consider that many fish crush shells and coral in their mouths and they have to withstand all sorts of sharp and hard bits on the things thay eat..........so considering what it would be like to have a hook in your mouth is not a usefull paralell.

SO
If we hook and land our fish reasonably quickly, then either kill it or release it efficiently, we should not have the great guilt trip the bleeding heart vegans would prefere we had.

I think what is important is that we kill the fish purposely and as efficiently as we can and not just let it die slowly.

A massive blow to the head kills most things quickly, so does seperating the head from the rest of the body.
Profuse bleeding may not be the quickest but it will get the job done.
A spike thru the brain, if you can do it accurately has to be efficient, if you can do it.
I supose it would be helpfull to cut open the head of the next dead fish you have to get some idea of how things are and where the bits are.

It occurs to me that the brain will not be all that big.
Again we are different... the primary function for our skull is to house the brain, where as the primary function of a fishes skull is structural, a means of mounting a set of jaws and terminating the spine.......next time you pick up a fish look at how much of the front of the fish is mouth.

Personaly I believe that all humans at some time should take responsibility for killing their own food.

Sorry about the deep & meaningfull, but thats the way I see it.

cheers