Is hunting scallops okay?

[thatonechicgirl]

Okay my family is planning a scalloping trip this weekend. Now I won't eat them, because flesh is flesh. Basically scalloping you just snorkle and pick them up, if I was to pick them up and do the actual harvesting of the scallops would that be wrong? Please explain why or why you would or wouldn't. Thanks!

Love, Chelsea

AKA - thatonechicgirl

By the way as someone pointed out I didn't state that I'm the youngest daughter. I'm 14. And the only vegetarian in my family.

[tipsy]

as a vegan, my goal is to allow forms of life to live as they would. isnt that what life is about?

basically this means avoiding consuming, exploiting, and/or disturbing animals' lives. if you were the scallop, would you want to be ripped from your natural habitat??

i personally would not participate. but every vegan has thier own lines of comfort that they draw.

[missbettie]

well if you harvest them then whats the harm in eating them?

wouldn't this be the same thing as "what would the harm be if I fished? as long as I didn't eat the fish"

I hope I don't sound mean, I mean this in the most matter of a fact way.

Welcome to the forum BTW!!!!

[Poison Ivy]

If you 'harvest' them won't that then just mean someone else in your snorkelling party will eat them? Personally I wouldn't want to be involved in that, I'd just go and enjoy the snorkelling without feeling the need to take any scallops.

[Korn]

Just in case you aren't aware that we have a thread about vegan views on clams, oysters, scallops and mussels already:
We have a thread about vegan views on clams, oysters, scallops and mussels already.

[Zero]

Its no different than hunting, using or killing any other sentient life for any purpose. So no it isn't ok.

Really hope you decide not to participate

[Cherry]

Argh! Definitely 100% wrong!

Their lives are in your hands (literally). I would want as many as possible to be undisturbed, and definitely wouldn't want to condemn them to being cooked and eaten.

[harpy]

I definitely wouldn't, no, any more than I'd kill a pig or something for someone else to eat. I know it's harder to empathise with a scallop than a mammal, but it's still an animal.

[Cherry]

I have no problem empathising with a scallop lol

[tipsy]

I have no problem empathising with a scallop lol

i know, its easy for me too!!!

[harpy]

It might be quite pleasant to be a scallop in Florida, as long as you didn't get harvested.

[Cherry]

Quite *plip* (That's my scallop impression)

[Mr Flibble]

Cherry sent me a card a couple of years back with a happy swimming mullusc, with joggle eyes and stars in the water. It was cute.

I think you should leave them alone. I'm pretty sure they'd be much happier in the sea than being boiled alive in a saucepan.

Could you sabotage the hunt perhaps by for instance letting all the air out of your family's car tyres the night before?

[harpy]

Very realistic impersonation, Cherry

I wouldn't let the air out of the tyres - apart from anything else that sort of thing can easily go wrong, e.g. the family might need the car for an emergency. I would have a go at persuading them to leave the scallops alone though.

[Mr Flibble]

Perhaps you could go dressed as a scallop?

[Stu]

How do you pronounce 'scallop'?

[Gorilla]

i don't know why a vegan would want to assist someone else in eating a living creature, even if you weren't to eat it yourself.

[RachelJune]

I wouldn't do it, no way. I understand it's difficult sometimes to make a stand and be left out of family activities, but this would go against my ethics as a vegan.

I'm assuming you're vegan at least partly for ethical reasons, compassion for animals etc. If so, then substitute "cow" or "sheep" instead of "scallop" and pose the same question to yourself. Would you go away with your family and help them round up some cattle to go to the slaughterhouse where they would kill them? In this way, you're not doing the killing, but you're a part of it, all the same Let them do their own dirty work.

If you feel uncomfortable about explaining to them that you don't want to take part in the activity, why not try suggesting something else to do together instead?

[Cherry]

How do you pronounce 'scallop'?

Like this - My dad says 'scollop' but that sounds funny when you see it written down.

Thanks Harpy It was a limpet, Mr Flibble I like limpets.

[Mr Flibble]

Yep, part of the mollusc family

[Cherry]

It is. Bivalvia I once wrote a whole essay about molluscs in an exam OK...I'm sounding quite weird now.

[herbwormwood]

Please explain why or why you would or wouldn't. Thanks!

Love, Chelsea

AKA - thatonechicgirl

Dear Chelsea,
You don't explain your position in the family, if you are the parent then you can choose to call this off and do something else instead as it definitely does not accord with vegan ethics.

If the parents have planned this for you and you have to go along, you could either stay on the beach and read, walk along the beach, or you could enjoy a nice swim (without scalloping).

[Tigerlily]

No way Jose.

I don't see why you couldn't just stay on the beach or go snorkeling without the hunting.

[Windfall]

1. No, I dont think its right, leave them be

2. Is it actually possible to HUNT something thats laying on the bottom of the sea?

3. Mollusc is actually a funnier word than scallop...

[sugarmouse]

Mollusc is for some reason, a hilarious word!?I find some words really funny.Maybes I am weird.
But yes.
My morals persoanlly, I wouldnt ever stop an animal for living its life naturally as it was. (all my pets are rescues)

and as a vegan by definition, it is not ok to hunt anything.

It may be a difficult situation for you , but if it were me I would just do my own thing that day and leave others to it, unless, as others have said, you can stop it happening totally, which I would try to do.

[Sarah_]

^ NOT weird! I find the words spackle and kumquat to be absolutely hilarious.

[Risker]

As with everyone else I definately wouldn't help others to kill.

I can't help but ask as you've edited your post, are you vegan or vegetarian? Not that it should make any difference to what you were asking.

[wildcatstrike]

So what did you end up doing, Chelsea?

Would i want to take part it in myself? Naa. No more than i would want to take a bird from it's nest and give to a meat eater to eat.

Welcome to the forum, though