Pangasius catfish from Vietnam and Southeast Asia is one of the most exported farmed fish globally, but welfare and environmental standards vary enormously across producers.
Pangasius welfare is a story of enormous variation. Certified farms producing for export markets to Europe and North America are held to standards that deliver acceptable water quality, reasonable stocking densities and regulated chemical use. Uncertified farms producing for lower-margin markets may expose fish to chronic hypoxia, high disease burden and excessive antibiotic use. The most tractable welfare improvement for consumers is certification-based purchasing that drives market incentives toward higher-standard production. The wide availability and low cost of ASC-certified pangasius in many markets makes this a genuinely accessible welfare choice.