California yellowtail is an emerging aquaculture species in the Pacific, with welfare challenges related to stocking density, water quality, and slaughter methods in developing production systems.
California yellowtail welfare is challenged by their need for high dissolved oxygen and their active swimming behavior, which makes them poorly suited to cramped conditions. In poorly managed systems, oxygen depletion causes chronic respiratory stress and suppressed immune function. As schooling fish with complex social behaviors, yellowtail may experience isolation stress in low-density holding situations during handling. Rapid growth rates in intensive systems can be associated with skeletal deformities if nutrition is not precisely calibrated, causing chronic discomfort. Slaughter methods in many facilities have not been assessed for humaneness.