The production of fishmeal and fish oil for aquaculture feed raises welfare concerns for the billions of small forage fish harvested annually, as well as sustainability questions for the whole sector.
Forage fish welfare in the aquaculture feed system is a largely invisible welfare issue involving enormous numbers of individual fish. The reduction process — harvesting schools of small fish and crushing them alive to extract protein and oil — involves no welfare considerations whatsoever. These fish, like all fish, have nociceptive systems and exhibit pain responses; being crushed alive causes suffering. The scale — billions of individual animals annually — makes this one of the largest potential welfare improvements available in the food system if alternative feed ingredients can replace forage fish. Algae-derived oils and insect protein are already providing partial replacements; accelerating this transition is both a welfare and sustainability priority.