Lobsters are increasingly farmed and consumed globally, yet their welfare during live transport, storage, and slaughter remains poorly regulated despite growing scientific evidence of their capacity for pain and stress.
Lobster welfare during the food supply chain involves potential suffering at multiple points. Live transport without water or in inadequate conditions causes respiratory distress. Storage in overcrowded tanks with inadequate oxygenation causes chronic stress and injury from aggressive interactions. Live boiling without prior stunning, still the dominant slaughter method in most countries, is likely to cause significant pain if lobsters have the nociceptive capacity that evidence suggests. Switzerland banned live boiling without stunning in 2018, requiring either electrostatic stunning or mechanical destruction of the brain before killing. The UK Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 recognized lobsters and crabs as sentient beings. Humane slaughter methods are technically feasible and commercially available, making continued use of live boiling increasingly difficult to justify.