European and Japanese eels are among the most welfare-compromised farmed fish, facing severe population declines in the wild while enduring stressful intensive aquaculture conditions. Sustainable alternatives are urgently needed.
The eel farming industry creates a double welfare crisis: wild glass eels are harvested en masse from rivers at a life stage when they are acutely vulnerable, and farmed eels spend years in barren, overcrowded tanks that deny their natural burrowing and migratory behaviors. Eels show clear stress responses including elevated cortisol, skin lesions from abrasion and aggression, and susceptibility to bacterial infections. The inability to breed eels in captivity means the industry cannot decouple from wild populations, creating an ongoing pressure on an already critically threatened species. Consumer choices away from eel dishes can reduce demand and ease this dual pressure.