Industrial fisheries for small pelagic species including sprat, herring, and sandeel catch billions of fish annually with essentially no welfare consideration.
The scale of small pelagic fisheries dwarfs all other animal use by humans by several orders of magnitude. If these fish have any capacity for suffering, the welfare burden is enormous. Research into humane slaughter methods for industrial fisheries is in its infancy. Consumer-facing options for welfare-positive pelagic fish are essentially non-existent, making systemic policy approaches the primary avenue for improvement.