European eels face a catastrophic population collapse, yet are still commercially farmed and harvested, raising both welfare and conservation concerns that are closely linked.
European eel welfare and conservation are inseparably linked: farming eels necessarily depletes wild populations since all juveniles are caught from the wild. Every farmed eel represents a wild glass eel removed from a population in catastrophic decline. Beyond conservation, eels have complex welfare needs in aquaculture — they are nocturnal, prefer dark sheltered environments, and experience significant stress in typical holding conditions. Slaughter welfare varies widely. The most defensible position combining welfare and conservation is to stop consuming eels until both captive breeding and wild population recovery are achieved. Consumer pressure has successfully removed eel from some major food service menus.