Dungeness crabs are a major commercial species on the US Pacific Coast, with welfare challenges in trap fisheries, live holding, and restaurant trade.
Dungeness crab welfare in trap fisheries is compromised by confinement periods in traps with other crabs, causing injury from fighting and oxygen depletion in heavily loaded traps. Live transport and restaurant holding in inadequate conditions extends welfare compromise beyond the fishery. The standard culinary method of live boiling without stunning causes suffering for several minutes before death. The accumulating scientific evidence for decapod sentience, combined with the UK legal recognition of crustacean sentience, provides a strong basis for regulatory action on Dungeness crab welfare in jurisdictions where commercial fisheries operate.