A gasping, writhing pile of fish and by-catch lie piled together on a fishing boat deck. France, 2018.
Selene Magnolia / HIDDEN / We Animals
Exposing the animals within Our Food Systems
The unseen story of wild-caught fish who become trapped in the fishing industry is one of extended torture.
These fish suffer slow deaths defined by nets, asphyxiation, ice, and blood. Whether they are the intended targets for a vessel’s trawling nets, or just ‘disposable’ bycatch species caught in the fray, once these animals are extracted from their ocean home and hit a vessel’s deck, they are en route to the same fate.
Images by Selene Magnolia, taken on assignment for Ecostorm and Compassion In World Farming.
Written by: Selene Magnolia
After being moved from the floating pens of a sea bass and sea bream farm, thousands of sea bass are dumped into ice containers. The shock of ice is meant to kill the fish quickly but the process is in fact painful and slow. They fish are then processed and packed, some remaining conscious even after this ordeal. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. Greece, 2018.
Selene Magnolia / We Animals
Workers aboard a trawler reel in nets loaded with target fish and bycatch after a few hours of fishing in the French Mediterranean Sea. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. France, 2018.
Selene Magnolia / We Animals
A fisherman holds a shark taken from the nets of a fishing boat. Common bycatch victims of industrial trawling include sharks, dolphins, turtles and some endangered species. France, 2018.
Selene Magnolia / HIDDEN / We Animals
Farmed fish are not spared the pain of this prolonged system either. Although they experience different challenges within their overcrowded floating pens, farmed fish destined for consumption also face immediate icing as part of the packing process. Though believed to be a quick kill mechanism, the extreme cold can actually keep fish alive and suffering, even as they are packed.
Workers dismember fish at a processing plant. Species include sea bass and sea bream as well as eel and rainbow trout. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. Greece, 2018.
Selene Magnolia / We Animals
The fish tanks at a sturgeon farm in Greece which produces caviar. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. Greece, 2018.
Selene Magnolia / We Animals
The fish tanks at a sturgeon farm which produces caviar. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. Greece, 2018.
Selene Magnolia / We Animals
The series of photographs shown here was taken by animal photojournalist Selene Magnolia to document the shocking reality for the fish who are trapped in present-day aquaculture conditions in and around the Mediterranean Sea near France and Greece. In addition to her contributions to HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene, Selene is one of the photographers to host her images on our We Animals Stock Site.
“Selene’s fishing story provokes questions about how we see the fish we eat – always together, be they packed into nets or packed on ice. We see fish in schools and not as individuals. These images show both industry and the individuals caught in our systems. Some of the most striking images are the close-up of an eye or a gaping mouth. We have been taught not to anthropomorphize, but this has prevented us from even acknowledging that their expressions and struggles, their dying and dead bodies, may actually be conveying something that we can understand: suffering.” — Jo-Anne McArthur
Sea bass are processed by workers at the slaughter and packing plant. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. Greece, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
Sea bass are processed by workers at the slaughter and packing plant. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. Greece, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
Floating pens of a sea bass and sea bream farm. The pens can be a high risk for environmental degradation to the local oceanic ecosystem and lethal to the fish due to overcrowding. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. Greece, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
Sea-farmed sea bass are hauled from floating pens and dumped into ice containers, then transferred to the slaughter and packing plant. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. Greece, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
After being moved from the floating pens of a sea bass and sea bream farm, thousands of sea bass are dumped into ice containers. The shock of ice is meant to kill the fish quickly but the process is in fact painful and slow. They fish are then processed and packed, some remaining conscious even after this ordeal. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming, Greece, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
Thousands of sea bass agonize inside the slaughter and packing plant of a sea farm. From the floating pens, the fish are dumped into ice containers and then transferred to the processing line where they are packed. Many fish remain alive throughout the process including when they are packed into boxes. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. Greece, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
Thousands of sea bass agonize inside the slaughter and packing plant of a sea farm. From the floating pens, the fish are dumped into ice containers and then transferred to the processing line where they are packed. Many fish remain alive throughout the process including when they are packed into boxes. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. Greece, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
Thousands of sea bass agonize inside the slaughter and packing plant of a sea farm. From the floating pens, the fish are dumped into ice containers and then transferred to the processing line where they are packed. Many fish remain alive throughout the process including when they are packed into boxes. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. Greece, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
Thousands of sea bass agonize inside the slaughter and packing plant of a sea farm. From the floating pens, the fish are dumped into ice containers and then transferred to the processing line where they are packed. Many fish remain alive throughout the process including when they are packed into boxes. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. Greece, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
Sea bass agonize inside the slaughter and packing plant of a sea farm. From the floating pens, the fish are dumped into ice containers and then transferred to the processing line where they are packed. Many fish remain alive throughout the process including when they are packed into boxes. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. Greece, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
A detail of rainbow trout eggs, taken at a rainbow trout hatchery and egg farm. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. France, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
Fishermen empty the trawler nets into a hold of a ship. France, 2018. Selene Magnolia / HIDDEN / We Animals
A manta ray lays suffocating amidst the fish and bycatch caught by a trawler in the French Mediterranean Sea. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. France, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
A shark that has been pulled up by the nets of a trawler in the French Mediterranean with thousands of other fish. The animals asphyxiate above water, and bycatch is high. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. France, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
Fish asphyxiate on the deck and in buckets aboard a trawler in the French Mediterranean Sea. They are pulled from the sea and dumped from trawling nets onto the deck where workers sort target fish from bycatch. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. France, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
Fish are pulled up from the sea and dumped from trawling nets onto the deck of a fishing vessel in the French Mediterranean Sea. Workers then sort the fish by species. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. France, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
Target fish and bycatch asphyxiate in nets aboard a trawler in the French Mediterranean Sea. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. France, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
A worker on a trawler sorts fish and bycatch that have been caught in the French Mediterranean Sea. They are sorted by species and then stored in refrigeration units onboard. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. France, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
A worker aboard a trawler reels in nets loaded with target fish and bycatch after a few hours of fishing in the French Mediterranean Sea. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. France, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
After hours of trawling the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, a massive net is hauled aboard a fishing boat and the asphyxiation of marine life begins. France, 2018. Selene Magnolia / HIDDEN / We Animals
The deck of a trawler after fishing nets have been pulled aboard with fish from the French Mediterranean Sea. Nets are deployed with a camera and sensor that send information to the bridge of the vessel, indicating the fullness of the nets. Bycatch - animals who are not the fishing target - are numerous. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. France, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
A fish slaughterhouse that collects fish coming from several on-land farms. After transport, the fish are machine-stunned and then slaughtered. Stunning is not always successful before the throats of the fish are slit to bleed out. Photos taken on assignment for Ecostorm / Compassion In World Farming. France, 2018. Selene Magnolia / We Animals
Images by Selene Magnolia, taken on assignment for Ecostorm and Compassion In World Farming.
Written by: Selene Magnolia
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