Crabs are caught in enormous quantities globally and killed primarily by boiling or dismembering alive. Growing evidence for their pain capacity makes these practices increasingly ethically problematic.
Live crab processing involves placing crabs in boiling water, dismembering them while alive, or freezing them while conscious — all methods that cause significant suffering in animals with evidence of nociception and learning. Crab trapping involves confinement in pots with other crabs, causing aggression and limb loss. Snow crab fishing in Arctic waters involves crabs being dragged up from depth in trawls or pots, causing barotrauma. Despite growing scientific consensus about crab sentience, food industry practices have changed little. Switzerland is the only country to legally require pre-slaughter stunning of crabs.