Legal protection for fish welfare has expanded significantly in recent decades as scientific consensus on fish sentience has strengthened, but major gaps remain in slaughter, bycatch, and aquaculture regulation.
Fish welfare in law occupies an uncomfortable gap: well-evidenced sentience, growing scientific consensus, but regulatory frameworks that still largely exempt fish from protections applied to other vertebrates. Farm fish may receive some protection; wild-caught fish typically receive none. The strongest legal frameworks — Norway, New Zealand — are isolated examples rather than global standards. The trajectory is positive but slow, and regulatory expansion has consistently lagged behind scientific consensus by decades.