Pond aquaculture systems raise welfare concerns through overcrowding, oxygen depletion, and disease susceptibility that cause chronic stress and suffering for billions of farmed fish.
Pond aquaculture welfare is poorly regulated and rarely monitored, despite producing enormous numbers of fish. The combination of high stocking density, variable water quality, and disease pressure creates chronic stress for pond-farmed fish that is largely invisible to consumers. Overnight oxygen depletion events cause mass suffocation stress as fish crowd at the surface gasping. Harvest methods using seine nets cause severe crowding that can last hours with associated oxygen depletion and physical injury. As the volume of pond-farmed fish approaches that of wild-caught fish globally, addressing pond welfare has enormous potential impact.