Freshwater crayfish are farmed for food in increasing numbers. Their welfare status is uncertain but evidence of nociception suggests precautionary welfare measures are appropriate during production and slaughter.
Farmed crayfish occupy a welfare grey area where emerging scientific evidence suggests possible pain experience but regulatory frameworks in most countries have not yet responded. The UK extension of welfare protections to decapods provides a model that other jurisdictions could follow. In the meantime, applying precautionary welfare principles suggests adopting practices that minimise potential suffering during production, transport, and slaughter. Rapid killing methods that minimise time from consciousness to death are preferable to slow methods like boiling from cold water on welfare precautionary grounds.