"the live bow fish is relatively fresh" is a cruel misunderstanding, and the freshness of the sea bass decreases when oppressed.

0 sharing

(by upstream and downstream journalists Lin Yijun and Lin Xiejun)

In response to consumers' love of buying live bass, "live bow fish" are common in the traditional fish market. The nylon thread is pulled through the lips of the golden perch and tightly tied to the end of the fish tail, which is convenient to choose and keep fresh. However, studies have pointed out that live bow fish can make sea bass feel pain, oppress the fish, increase the amount of lactic acid released by the body, and reduce the quality of fish, even prone to rancidity.

The Taiwan Animal Society Research Society (hereinafter referred to as the "Animals Society") today (4) called on consumers to refuse to buy this kind of abusive "live bow fish" and asked the Council of Agriculture to bind fish by association operators in accordance with the Animal Protection Law. actively work on the formulation of "Fish breeding, fishing, Transportation, Sale, stunning and slaughtering Animal Welfare regulations" to promote education and training and promote consumers' awareness of fish animal welfare.

The reporter actually visited the fish market and found that many bass were sold in the form of "live bow fish" (Photo / Lin Shijun)

Convenient live bow fish can be seen in both north and south fishing markets.

Golden perch grows rapidly and gets its name because of the golden-red glow of its pupils at night. According to statistics, there are four species of sea bass cultured in Taiwan: Golden perch, California perch, seven-star perch, and honeysuckle perch. Taking the trading volume of the fishing market in 107 as an example, golden perch accounted for 68%, with a total of 660 farmers in Taiwan.

"live bow fish" is a common mode of selling perch in traditional markets. The lips of golden perch are tied to the end of the fish tail with nylon thread, and the fish will be bent into a U shape. It is understood that it can prolong the shelf life of golden perch by 8-12 hours. In addition, it is also relatively convenient for fishmongers to sell, and consumers can easily and quickly select and carry it.

Donggang fishmongers said that tying up perch can prolong the life of the fish for more than half a day, and it is also convenient for guests to pick fish. In addition, guests like fish that are intact and beautiful in appearance. Tied up fish will not beat, collide, struggle and cause damage to the fish body, maintain the appearance and good price, workers tie up the fish, the operation is not troublesome, and become the normal sales situation.

Live bow fish sold in the market (Photo / Lin Yaojun)

Agency: 3.45 million perch are abused every year.

According to the statistics of the Council of Agriculture, there are 24 fishing markets in Taiwan, of which there are 17 trading records of golden perch. The Taiwan Animal Society Research Association conducted a telephone survey and found that "live bow fish" were traded in both the North, Central and South markets.

In 107, the trading volume of golden perch is about 10.358 million, and the Animal Society Research Association estimates that about 3.45 million perch suffer from this abuse each year. The bound bass, on the one hand, endure physical pain, on the other hand, they open and close the Gill cover and mouth, struggle to breathe, and sell with the vendors for a long time, some even die as long as 8 to 12 hours, or some consumers choose to be untied and slaughtered. It's a complete "unnecessary pain."

Form source / agency

Scholars are worried about the decline of meat quality and bacterial contamination, so they should be killed by corona after fishing.

Bow fish has been in practice for years, but this has attracted the attention of relevant scholars and animal protection groups. Chen Yumin, CEO of the agency, said that scientific research has long confirmed that fish can feel pain, but also feel pain because of urgency and fear, and all steps before slaughtering will cause urgency, affecting the quality of fish and causing loss of nutrients. In the dying fish, the fish will taste bitter and spoil easily, producing metabolites that cause fishy smell.

Live bow fish sold in the fish market (Photo / Lin Yaojun)

From the point of view of professional fish veterinarians, Dr. Tony Wall, founder of the Scottish Fish Veterinary Group (FVG), said that the urgency of fish pain will lead to a high amount of lactic acid released in the fish, resulting in contamination and deterioration of the meat. As a result, the meat quality of fish in this way will get worse.

He further explained that fish in their natural state will not have such a posture, and that when they are tied up and bowed into a U-shaped shape, there will be severe pain; during the process of passing a rope through the fish's mouth, Gill, and Gill cover, the Gill cover of the fish is forced to open, and the oxygen content decreases slowly. in order to ensure that the sea bass is alive, stalls will constantly sprinkle or immerse the fish, which is more likely to cause the risk of contamination or bacterial infection.

Huang Chih-hsien, an associate professor in the Department of Aquaculture at National Taiwan Ocean University, says that sea bass are so lively that they are so specially treated, and there is a widespread myth in the market that "live fish is fresh," so that bow fish will continue to exist. however, nylon rope wrapped around bone fragments and causing scales to fall off will cause bacteria and microbes to invade the environment, and the best way is to kill them by corona after fishing.

Fish vendors in response to consumers "love to buy live fish" derivative sales model

Tsai Po-Hsing, director-general of the Ryukyu fishing Association, said that the purpose of binding is to prolong the life of the fish and make the fish seem to live longer. He believes that many fishmongers are only responding to consumers' idea that they "like to buy live fish" and "feel that live fish are relatively fresh" and that they are in line with the shopping trend of consumers, otherwise the cold chain technology is already very mature and binding is tantamount to adding one more job formality. operators should not think that binding is necessary.

Lin Hanchou, director general of the Donggang Fisheries Association, said that not only golden sea bass are tied up, but all sea bass are tied up when they are sold. In the past, lice fish were also tied up. In recent years, there were too many lice fish, so they changed their handling methods. Now only retail bass can be tied up, and the whole batch of bass sold will not be tied up. From the transaction point of view, the volume of the whole batch sold is larger than that of the retail model.

Donggang fishmongers say that people have to eat processed milkfish, and some people like to eat different parts of fish skin, belly and meat, so they will buy it only if they are sliced and processed, but bass have to cook soup, and consumers usually prefer to buy whole live fish.

According to an interview with the agency, three fishing markets in Hsinchu, Miaoli and Dounan said: only selling chilled bass but not live fish is acceptable to consumers. Many fishmongers said: "many guests think that fish are alive when tied up, but those fish have been dead for a long time!" Some stalls will tie up the fish after death to make consumers think it is alive.

Is there a dispute over whether it violates the animal insurance law: the handling of meat? Cruelty to animals?

Does the bow fish violate the animal protection law? Wu Chin-an, head of animal rescue at the Taipei Animal Protection Department, said that he has never received a report from bow fish, and the application of the law will be controversial, because the operators start from the point of view of dealing with meat, not cruelty to animals, unless fish are also included in the law enforcement norms. Wu said that if it is included in law enforcement for guidance and persuasion, Taipei City should have the opportunity to improve.

Lin Guoping, Deputy Director of Fisheries, said that the scope of management of the Fisheries Department is the production end, and the bow fish is traditionally handled by the sales side, and the breeding side will not do so, even the sea bass that are distributed by live fish carts and used for processing after they come out of the water. Will not be treated with bow fish.

Lin Guoping said that in recent years, more and more people have voiced their views on this issue. In the near future, the Agriculture and Fisheries Department will invite production officials and schools to discuss and work out a common solution strategy. It is expected that the construction of a complete cold chain system in the future will also improve the animal welfare and hygiene of bow fish.