Fish welfare is undergoing a rapid transformation as scientific evidence accumulates and policy frameworks are updated to reflect fish sentience, with significant implications for fisheries and aquaculture.
The trajectory of fish welfare policy is clearly upward as the evidence base for fish sentience becomes impossible to ignore. The challenge is translating policy recognition into practical welfare improvement across the enormous scale of global fishing and aquaculture. Market-based approaches including certification and consumer choice can drive improvement faster than regulation in some contexts. The next decade will likely see more substantial progress in fish welfare than the past century combined.