Brown crabs are caught in pots across the UK and are handled live throughout the supply chain. Welfare during pot fishing, live transport and killing requires consideration given growing evidence of crustacean sentience.
Brown crabs in pots experience confinement stress and agonistic encounters with co-confined individuals. Long soak times between pot retrieval extend the period of confinement. Live transport subjects crabs to variable temperature and oxygen conditions during extended journeys from remote fishing grounds. The killing of live crabs by boiling, dismembering or freezing without prior stunning causes potential prolonged suffering if crabs are sentient. The legal recognition of decapod crustacean sentience in UK law creates a duty of care obligation that extends to crabs throughout their commercial journey from pot to plate.