Sustainable fishing certification schemes focus primarily on stock sustainability, but the welfare of caught fish and bycatch species is increasingly recognized as a parallel concern requiring integration into certification standards.
The sustainable seafood movement has achieved significant progress in improving the ecological sustainability of fishing but has largely failed to engage with the welfare dimension of fish mortality. The omission is understandable historically — fish welfare science was less developed and public concern was lower — but it is no longer scientifically defensible given the evidence for fish sentience and the scale of suffering involved. A fishery can be MSC certified — demonstrating that target fish stocks are managed sustainably — while using methods that cause prolonged suffering to millions of fish and generating enormous bycatch mortality. The integration of welfare criteria into sustainability certification is beginning: the MSC has announced welfare requirements and some specialty certifications are incorporating handling and slaughter standards. Consumer demand for genuinely welfare-integrated certification provides the market signal that drives this integration forward. The most welfare-positive seafood choices combine sustainability certification with attention to catching method — favoring hook-and-line and trap-caught fish over trawled equivalents where both are available.