The slaughter of farmed fish is a major welfare challenge, with many commercial methods causing prolonged suffering before death that better techniques could substantially reduce.
Fish slaughter is arguably the largest animal welfare challenge in agriculture by number of individual animals affected. Most commercial slaughter methods for farmed fish cause a prolonged period of suffering before death. Asphyxiation in ice — where fish remain conscious while slowly suffocating and cooling — is still widely used despite clear evidence that fish experience distress during this process. Electrical stunning and percussive stunning methods that rapidly render fish insensible before killing are available and effective, but their adoption has been slow due to cost and operational challenges. Improving fish slaughter welfare requires regulatory pressure, consumer demand for welfare certification, and industry investment in better technology.