Atlantic cod were once the most abundant fish in the North Atlantic and their collapse has welfare implications at both population and individual levels.
Atlantic cod caught in trawls experience the full range of wild fish capture welfare harms including crushing, decompression, and suffocation. As a species with demonstrated learning ability and spatial memory, there is reasonable basis for concern about their capacity to suffer. Historical overfishing eliminated most adult cod, disrupting the social and genetic diversity of populations. Ecosystem changes mean recovering cod encounter altered prey availability and predator landscapes. Individual fish welfare is compounded by population-level stress.