Will the Parliament ban the sale of live carp? “World is changing”

The upcoming holidays may be the last one when you can buy live fish. KO MPs want to ban this, writes “Rzeczpospolita”. – The world is changing, and the best idea is the one for which the time has come. If we look at public opinion polls, the time has come to ban the sale of live carp – Katarzyna Piekarska, MP from the Civic Coalition, member of the Parliamentary Group of Friends of Animals, tells the newspaper.

Will MPs push through the ban on the sale of live carp?

Two years ago, the Compassion in World Farming Polska Foundation published the results of a CBOS survey, which shows that nearly 60 percent Poles support the ban on the sale of live carp.

Piekarska announces that she will submit a bill with a group of MPs providing that the sale of live fish will only be possible in the case of fry and aquarium specimens. For the average fish consumer, this practically means a ban on the sale of live carp, which will now have to be killed at the point of purchase by a person trained for this purpose.

Piekarska – as “Rzeczpospolita” reminds – already in the previous term of the Sejm tried to push through the ban on the sale of live fish, emphasizing that purchasing them before Christmas is a tradition originating from the Polish People’s Republic, when there were no refrigerators in homes, and in the current technological reality there is no point in continuing it. However, the project did not even receive a parliamentary form number. Now, however, the situation may be different, because in the new Sejm, groups declaring a desire to strengthen animal rights have a greater representation (the only mystery will be the attitude of PSL), and the new Speaker, Szymon Hołownia, has announced the liquidation of the Sejm freezer.

Environmental organizations indicate that due to the fact that several million fish go on sale in a short period of time in the pre-Christmas period, their transport, slaughter and sale in humane conditions are very difficult.

– We often observe fish being kept in an inappropriate amount of water. For many years, a problem was that customers carried carp home in plastic bags. Fortunately, two years ago the Chief Veterinary Officer issued guidelines according to which fish should be transported in containers with water – says Cezary Wyszyński from the Viva! Foundation in an interview with the daily.

Wyszyński points out that due to public sentiment, large retail chains have withdrawn from selling live fish. However, they are available at marketplaces, especially in smaller towns.