Nile tilapia is the most farmed tropical fish globally, with welfare challenges including extreme crowding, aggressive hierarchies and poor pre-slaughter practices.
Tilapia in intensive pond or cage systems experience chronic crowding stress, competition for feed and territory. Aggressive hierarchies mean subordinate fish receive inadequate nutrition and experience chronic wounds from fin-nipping. Sex reversal using methyltestosterone to produce all-male monosex populations is standard practice but involves developmental disruption from hormone exposure. Pre-slaughter ice slurry without stunning causes prolonged conscious death. Improving pre-slaughter stunning adoption across tropical tilapia markets is a priority welfare intervention.