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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

How to kill a fish...humanely of course

Having a hard time killing your catch? Well..killing a fish is no easy task, and how to kill a fish really depends on which species you are intending to kill. For all freshwater species, I find the quickest, and most humane way to kill a fish is to place two fingers, either side of the gills, under the fish's mouth. As it breathes, you will see a piece of skin, which connects the body and the jaw. Place your fingers in there, and lift the fish's head backwards, hence killing it, quickly and painlessly. This method applies to some saltwater species, such as garfish, snapper, trevally, salmon, tailor, wrasse, whiting and mullet. It works on all freshwater species, except catfish of course. 

The reason is does not work on some saltwater species is because they do not have that piece of skin in the same place as the others, or their skin is guarded by sharp spikes, such as the flathead. Bottom dwellers have very flat bodies, and are harder to kill - and unfortunately, there is no real quick way to kill the fish. Some may find the best way to kill fish is to use something like half an axe handle and give them a good blow to the head just above the eyes. This works with nearly all species of fish but you would have to soften the blow depending on the size of the fish. This method would not be advised for something like garfish. Once you have killed the fish it leaves you free to get the hook out without have to worry about the fish wriggling about on you.

I know its a bit gruesome but if we are to survive we must eat and in order to do that we must kill the fish. For me, I never use all that methods. I prefer putting the fish in the freezer. It will slowly go to a deep sleep and die. You don't have to wait until it freezes when this happen. I just wait for 10 to 15 minutes.


A Hope For Jasper

2 comments:

  1. Sorry to burst your bubble, but fish are not among the things we definitely need for survival, let alone a healthy life. The fishing industries like to spread this misinformation in order to boost sales, analogous to the myth of milk being good for children, your bones and teeth. In addition I'd like to contest your statements concerning the fish's experience of his death. You simply cannot know which of your methods is "humane". One thing you can know because it's backed up by scientific evidence is that the moment you take fish out of water, it's starting to choke - which, in turn, isn't a pleasure for any vertebrate.

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