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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

Sweeper at the beach in Canada. Photo credit: Cindy Hughes.
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

Maxine
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.
Maxine
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

Sweeper at the beach in Canada. Photo credit: Cindy Hughes.
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
Images by Selene Magnolia, taken on assignment for Ecostorm and Compassion In World Farming.
Written by: Selene Magnolia

To view more images and video related to this story, please visit our Aquatic Life gallery.