NDLI: Fish intelligence, sentience and ethics

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Brown, Culum
Copyright Year	2014
Abstract	Fish are one of the most highly utilised vertebrate taxa by humans; they are harvested from wild stocks as part of global fishing industries, grown under intensive aquaculture conditions, are the most common pet and are widely used for scientific research. But fish are seldom afforded the same level of compassion or welfare as warm-blooded vertebrates. Part of the problem is the large gap between people’s perception of fish intelligence and the scientific reality. This is an important issue because public perception guides government policy. The perception of an animal’s intelligence often drives our decision whether or not to include them in our moral circle. From a welfare perspective, most researchers would suggest that if an animal is sentient, then it can most likely suffer and should therefore be offered some form of formal protection. There has been a debate about fish welfare for decades which centres on the question of whether they are sentient or conscious. The implications for affording the same level of protection to fish as other vertebrates are great, not least because of fishing-related industries. Here, I review the current state of knowledge of fish cognition starting with their sensory perception and moving on to cognition. The review reveals that fish perception and cognitive abilities often match or exceed other vertebrates. A review of the evidence for pain perception strongly suggests that fish experience pain in a manner similar to the rest of the vertebrates. Although scientists cannot provide a definitive answer on the level of consciousness for any non-human vertebrate, the extensive evidence of fish behavioural and cognitive sophistication and pain perception suggests that best practice would be to lend fish the same level of protection as any other vertebrate.
Starting Page	1
Ending Page	17
Page Count	17
File Format	PDF
ISSN	14359448
Journal	Animal Cognition
Volume Number	18
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	14359456
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2014-06-19
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Fish cognition Sentience Welfare Pain Intelligence Ethics Behavioral Sciences Zoology Human Physiology Evolutionary Biology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Fish cognition: a primate's eye view

Animal Cognition: The next steps

Visual discrimination and object categorization in the cichlid Pseudotropheus sp.

Assessing learning and memory in pigs

A fish-eye lens for comparative studies: broadening the scope of animal cognition

Thinking chickens: a review of cognition, emotion, and behavior in the domestic chicken

Object permanence in lemurs

Cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus recognise familiar clients

Object-specific and relational learning in pigeons

Fish intelligence, sentience and ethics

Similar Documents

Fish cognition: a primate's eye view

Animal Cognition: The next steps

Visual discrimination and object categorization in the cichlid Pseudotropheus sp.

Assessing learning and memory in pigs

A fish-eye lens for comparative studies: broadening the scope of animal cognition

Thinking chickens: a review of cognition, emotion, and behavior in the domestic chicken

Object permanence in lemurs

Cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus recognise familiar clients

Object-specific and relational learning in pigeons

Fish intelligence, sentience and ethics