Humanely Kill Tilapia for table

[Sunny Oettel]

Hello, please tell me how you humanely dispatch your tilapia for the table.  When I googled it, some said using ice chokes them, others say shock them (?) others say drive a pin through their skull, or hit them in the head with a hammer.  Wow, I can't picture myself chasing flopping fish with a hammer!  I just want to do the job without causing the fish too much pain.  I also think when something is being killed, it can put out body chemicals (kind of like we have coritsol) because of fear.

[David - WI]

I agree, but apparently there is some difference in what part of the clove and how it's processed that results in inconsistencies in the components of clove oil.

But, like I said, these are fish that are going to be killed immediately and not sold to anyone... and not released into the wild or even back into a fish tank where they could potentially be treated again and again.  The "recovery time" is also irrelevant because they'll be fillets long before the anesthetic would wear off.

The dose and the exposure time are far too small for me to be worried about any ill affects from eating the fish.

More interesting info here: https://srac.tamu.edu/index.cfm/event/getFactSheet/whichfactsheet/162/

Bob Campbell said:

Thanks David.  I wish they had shown the immediate reaction, but it certainly does not appear to be traumatic or painful.

Makes me wonder why this is not approved for commercial fisheries.  It can't be any more harmful than cloves in a ham.