Channel catfish farming is the largest US aquaculture sector, with millions of animals reared in earthen ponds under conditions with limited welfare regulation.
Channel catfish in earthen ponds during summer oxygen depletion events experience acute hypoxic stress, sometimes causing mass mortality events with thousands of animals dying simultaneously. Crowding during harvest concentrates animals in progressively smaller areas causing extreme stress. Processing plant operations that kill catfish without effective stunning cause prolonged suffering from decapitation or skinning of still-conscious animals. While catfish have lower regulatory protection than vertebrate mammals, their demonstrated nociception and stress responses warrant welfare consideration at the enormous production scale of US catfish farming.