Aquatic animal welfare is an emerging field that is beginning to receive the scientific and policy attention that reflects the sentience and scale of aquatic animal use.
The coming decade may be transformative for aquatic animal welfare as scientific recognition of fish sentience translates into policy and practice change. The enormous scale of fish use means that even modest improvements in welfare standards affect billions of individuals. Market-based approaches through certification, regulatory development, and consumer advocacy are all necessary to drive the rapid improvement that the scale of aquatic welfare concern demands.