Last Updated on November 9, 2023 by Fasting Planet
Can Vegans Eat Fish? With more than 32,000 fish species, a good number of which are edible, fish is a meal that never has to get old. You can prepare fish in so many ways or even eat it raw, such as sushi or poke. If fish is a frequent part of your diet and you’re soon going vegan, can you continue eating fish?
Vegans do not eat fish nor do they consume shellfish and other seafood. Even vegetarians will eschew fish, except for pescatarians, who are typically not considered true vegetarians.
In this article, we’ll explain why vegans don’t eat fish as well as how you can ensure you get the omega-3s and other nutrients your body needs even without consuming seafood. If you’re a new vegan, you’re definitely going to want to keep reading.
Why Don’t Vegans Eat Fish?
To be clear, when we say vegans can’t eat fish, we mean any and all fish species. That includes the most commonly consumed fish such as:
- Tuna
- Salmon
- Cod
- Tilapia
- Catfish
- Swordfish
- Perch
- Bass
- Carp
- Mahi-mahi
- Trout
- Halibut
- Flounder
- Herring
Shellfish are also off the menu. The crustaceans that vegans must avoid include:
- Octopus
- Scallops
- Oysters
- Mussels
- Clams
You also have to remove all other seafood from your diet, such as:
- Roe
- Sushi
- Poke
- Caviar
- Smoked fish
- Sardines
- Anchovies
Why do vegans cut so many dietary options wholesale like this? There are plenty of convincing reasons to quit fish, shellfish, and seafood.
Reduced Risk of Allergies
Did you know that, of the eight most common food allergens, two of them are fish-related? One such allergen is fish and the other is shellfish. These two types of food allergies are more likely to manifest in adults than children.
What does that mean for you? Well, that anytime you sit down to a seafood meal at home or at a nice restaurant, you could have an allergic reaction to the fish on your plate. Yes, allergies can seemingly come out of nowhere like that, and food that you didn’t have a reaction to yesterday can trigger a reaction today.
The American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology or ACAAI says that 40 percent of fish allergies may start exactly that way.
While some people outgrow their food allergies, this happens more frequently in children than adults. You might be stuck with your fish allergy for the rest of your life. Well, unless you don’t eat fish and shellfish at all, then you don’t have to stress about developing fish allergies.
Fewer Worries about Food Contamination
Sure, everyone talks about mercury in fish, and we will as well. That’s far from the only possible contaminant in your seafood though. Other contaminants include pesticides, chlorine, dioxins, polybrominated diphenyl ethers aka PBDEs, and polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs.
Fish are exposed to these contaminants simply by swimming or eating. The chemicals get absorbed through the fish’s skin or digestive tract, more so in bottom-dwelling fish.
Once you have these chemicals in your body through ingesting fish, they can stick around for a long time. The Washington State Department of Health says it may be as long as five years if not longer before women who can safely have children will clear all PCBs from their bodies.
Before then, any babies these women have could end up with developmental issues. Adults too may have reduced immune, liver, and blood functioning due to ingesting PCBs.
By choosing some fish species over others, you might ingest fewer contaminants, but few is still not good enough. The best way to be contaminant-free is to omit fish from your diet altogether.
No Mercury-Related Health Risks
Mercury is an environmental contaminant, but what’s worse is methylmercury, a type of mercury that’s more toxic.
How does mercury enter the water, you ask? Mostly from industrial waste.
The waste is often a byproduct of burning fossil fuels and coal. Otherwise, waste incineration can lead to large quantities of industrial waste. If the waste travels to a sewage treatment facility or landfill, the mercury within the industrial waste seeps into the ground, eventually reaching the water.
When this happens, the bacteria in the water make mercury into methylmercury, which you know is extremely problematic. Those fish that feed on bacteria start the mercury food chain, as the bigger fish that eat those smaller fish ingest methylmercury as well.
The smallest fish have the least amount of mercury, but as the food chain continues, the quantities of mercury increase, which is known as bioaccumulation. Besides a fish’s size, its age also determines how much mercury it contains within its body.
There’s a reason that pregnant women aren’t supposed to eat fish. The mercury in seafood and fish can lead to learning difficulties and developmental issues for children who were exposed to mercury as fetuses. Even adults aren’t immune to the effects of mercury, as their cardiovascular and central nervous systems are potentially at risk.
None of these health concerns are yours if you’re a vegan, as you’ll eat no fish, shellfish, or seafood.
Preserves the Oceans
How do all those grocery stores get their consistent supply of fresh fish? For that matter, how do restaurants do the same? Through the fishing industry, especially commercial fishing. The fishing industry is a huge, multi-billion dollar production that grows as the demand for fish and seafood does.
Yet commercial fishermen don’t think as much of the long-term consequences of their actions, only the short-term money-making potential of fishing. When fish are harvested from bodies of water to the point of depletion, this affects the entire food chain in that ecosystem.
It doesn’t matter the size of the fish, there’s always a creature that feasts on it. When you remove one link in the food chain, what happens? Now the species that would eat that fish cannot, so they begin eating a different fish. The other species that ate that different fish is competing with the first species for the food supply. One species is bound to go hungry.
If the species doesn’t die out, then it’ll vacate the area before it starves entirely. This further disrupts the food chain until this ecosystem might be irreversibly damaged.
This 1998 report from the journal Advances in Marine Biology goes into a lot of detail on how commercial fishing can destroy marine ecosystems. The date of the report just goes to show how long commercial fishing has harmed our oceans, lakes, rivers, and the animals that live within these bodies of water.
Saves More Animals
You’re probably aware that animals like pigs and chickens understand fear as we do. So too might fish, says this 2009 article from Scientific American. It’s not just fear that fish are capable of experiencing, but pain as well.
The way that animals are exploited and used for their resources is often cruel, as you’ll know if you’ve read this blog and our eBook on animal byproducts. It’s much of the same story when harvesting fish.
The fish are either suffocated or yanked from the ocean at such a fast rate that depressurization occurs. When it does, their stomach and other organs can rupture, leading to the stomach forcing itself out of the fish’s mouth. If that sounds agonizingly brutal, that’s because it is.
Each time you choose to eat a fish-free meal, that’s one more fish that can swim peacefully without being caught and made into food.
How Can Vegans Get the Nutrients They Need and Still Go Fish-Free?
Fish are rich primarily in omega-3 fatty acids, but that’s not all. They’re also full of potassium, magnesium, iodine, zinc, iron, phosphorus, calcium, vitamin B2, and vitamin D. As a vegan, you have plenty of ways to ingest these crucial nutrients, minerals, and vitamins, so let’s discuss your options.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
While fish remain the best source of omega-3s, you can also add canola and flaxseed oil to your vegan diet, not to mention ground flaxseed and chia seeds. Some vegetables contain omega-3s, especially leafy green ones. Soybeans, walnuts, and hemp seed oil have some omega-3s, but not as much.
Most omega-3 supplements are fish oil, which is also a no-no for vegans. Algae-based supplements will boost your omega-3s if you’re not getting enough from your diet.
Potassium
If you want some potassium right now, just unpeel a banana! A seven-inch medium-sized banana has 422 milligrams of the stuff, which is great. Vegetables are also wonderful sources of potassium, including the following:
- Turnips – 233 milligrams per medium turnip
- Sweet potato – 448 milligrams per cup of cubed potato
- Red scallions – 2,039 milligrams per medium head
- Parsnips – 499 milligrams per cup
- Cooked edamame – 676 milligrams per cup
- Cauliflower – 1,758 milligrams per medium head
- Artichokes – 474 milligrams per medium artichoke
Magnesium
Magnesium keeps your blood pressure and blood sugar in check, not to mention your body needs it to produce DNA, bone, and proteins. Try some vegan recipes with flaxseed, cashews, almonds, tofu, cooked beans, soy nuts, cooked tempeh, and black-eyed peas to stay current on your magnesium levels.
Iodine
We just wrote a great post about whether vegans can eat salt where we talked about iodine. Go back and give it a read if you missed it!
Zinc
For a healthy immune system, eat more zinc. You especially need zinc as a pregnant woman and after giving birth for a healthy child with proper development. Vegans can eat all sorts of plant-based foods to get their daily supply of zinc, including:
- Asparagus
- Flax seeds
- Avocados
- Pecans
- Chia seeds
- White button mushrooms (if you’re a vegan who consumes mushrooms)
- Spinach
- Green peas
- Black beans
- Shitake mushrooms
- Quinoa
- Seeds
- Wild rice
- Lentils
- Hemp seeds
- Firm tofu
- Toasted wheat germ
- Fortified vegan cereals
Conclusion
Vegans cannot eat fish, shellfish, or seafood, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You don’t have to worry about mercury or other contaminants nor food allergies. Plus, you can feel good knowing that you’re keeping our oceans populated and preserving more fish.