Where the death toll is the highest within the factory farming industry...

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Hi everyone, it’s Erin from Animal Outlook’s investigations team. I have a question for you. When you think of the animal agriculture industry, what comes to mind? Cows, pigs and chickens? Many people are not aware of the cruel world of fish factory farming, also known as aquaculture.

I'm encouraged that awareness about fish factory farming is growing, along with concern for their welfare. Today is World Day for the End of Fishing and World Aquatic Animal Day is on Saturday, April 3.

I spent two years as an undercover investigator with Animal Outlook before I retired from the field and became the deputy director of investigations. In addition to working undercover in a broiler chicken factory farm and two dairy factory farms, I also spent time working at the Cooke Aquaculture ([link removed]) fish hatchery in Bingham, Maine.

I’d already been an undercover investigator for a year before I started at the hatchery, so I thought I knew what to expect. I could not have been more wrong. The conditions were putrid and disease ran rampant among the farmed salmon, intensively crowded in barren tanks. More than one million eggs were laid out in water so riddled with fungus that the water was nearly opaque. Not surprisingly, thousands of these eggs died each day.

When eggs somehow managed to survive and hatch in these disgusting conditions, hundreds of the resulting baby fish would have deformities. Many constantly swam in circles or spasmed as they tried to swim with gruesomely twisted spines. I also saw many born conjoined, attached by their bellies. These deformed fish were roughly extracted from their tanks and tossed into waterless buckets where they were left to suffocate.

Fish were routinely left to suffocate and die in waterless buckets

This horror has to stop. Will you join us in exposing the cruel practices in the factory farming industry? ([link removed])

I wondered if there was a limit to the number of fish who died or were born deformed, which when reached would prompt management to take action to improve the conditions for the fish. There were also so many other reasons for these fish dying - too little oxygen in their water, not enough or too much current, too little or too much feed.

Sadly, any concern for the welfare of these sentient beings was tempered by the harsh reality of fish farming. Even when the workers seemed bothered by seeing fish with fungal infections eating away at their flesh, in the larger framework of the animal agriculture industry, these dead and dying fish were just seen as casualties. It broke my heart.

The fish who survived grew, and were subjected to even more cruelty. I saw so many atrocities, including workers stomping on fishes heads and throwing them in the air with no regard for their safety or the fact that they couldn’t breathe outside of the water. As brutal standard practices were already established and implemented daily in that environment, it was common for the workers to treat the fish as objects. A manager even commented on how he grew desensitized to the cruelty over the years.

I saw more death in this facility than I did in any of the other factory farms I investigated. But I knew this was an important investigation, as most people were unaware of the true nature of fish factory farms. The evidence collected during my investigation was also used to file a lawsuit ([link removed]) against Cooke Aquaculture last year for false advertising. This lawsuit, currently in litigation, alleges that Cooke's claims that its practices are "sustainable," "ecologically sound" and that its salmon are "naturally raised" under "optimal" animal welfare standards constitute false advertising.

We need your help to expose more of these horrific facilities. Your donation today will keep our investigators in the field ([link removed]) , showing the world what the factory farming industry tries so desperately to keep hidden.

CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATIONS ([link removed])
I hope you'll join us in celebrating World Day for the End of Fishing ([link removed]) today and World Aquatic Animal Day ([link removed]) on Saturday, April 3. You can also read more about my time investigating Cooke Aquaculture in my latest blog post ([link removed]) .

Thank you. Together, we're changing the world for animals.
With gratitude,

Erin Wing
Deputy Director of Investigations
P.S. By making a one-time donation ([link removed]) or by joining our United for Change Monthly Giving Program ([link removed]) , your generosity will help support our undercover investigations and also fuel our legal advocacy, corporate engagement and vegan outreach and education. Together, we will continue to expose the truth, inspire change and create a better world for farmed animals.

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