OP will be real dangerous when he learns fish also don’t ask for consent.

Agreed, if a bear can eat a person why can’t I eat a person?!

Nobody is saying that fish are moral agents that can empathise with other beings. That doesn’t man that they’re not moral subjects; the ability to understand that one is causing harm is not a prerequisite for the ability to suffer oneself. I think everyone knows this intuitively, but it does feel good to have our less moral habits be justified by memes that we would otherwise find to be illogical.