Crabs face significant welfare challenges in commercial fisheries and emerging aquaculture, with growing evidence for their capacity to experience pain.
Crab welfare science has progressed significantly, with studies demonstrating associative learning, nociception and prolonged post-injury protective behaviour consistent with pain experience. The UK Animal Welfare Act 2022 extension to decapod crustaceans reflects growing scientific consensus. Live crabs are handled, transported and killed in ways that cause significant welfare harm if they are sentient. Electrical stunning before slaughter, improved live storage conditions and rapid killing methods would dramatically improve welfare for millions of crabs processed annually in commercial fisheries.