Small-scale artisanal fishing affects millions of fish annually with welfare practices varying enormously across global fishing communities.
Small-scale fisheries welfare is an underexplored area where the diversity of practices and contexts makes generalisation difficult. Some traditional practices reflect pragmatic efficiency that incidentally produces rapid death. Others cause prolonged suffering through slow suffocation or live storage. The economic and social context of artisanal fishing requires welfare improvements to be affordable, practical and aligned with fishers' interests. Developing accessible welfare guidance appropriate to small-scale fisheries, and engaging fishing communities in welfare improvement, has the potential to benefit enormous numbers of fish while working with rather than against traditional fishing cultures.