Multiple aquaculture certification schemes exist globally, but they vary enormously in their welfare requirements. Understanding differences helps consumers and advocates identify genuinely welfare-positive choices.
Aquaculture certification is a potentially powerful tool for welfare improvement but its effectiveness depends critically on the strength and enforcement of welfare requirements within certification frameworks. Consumers seeking welfare-positive aquaculture products face a confusing landscape of overlapping certifications that vary enormously in their welfare ambition. Environmental certification, while important for sustainability, does not inherently deliver animal welfare improvement. The development of welfare-specific aquaculture certification drawing on the best available evidence for species-specific welfare needs represents an important frontier for the welfare certification industry. Support for organisations developing rigorous welfare criteria, and consumer pressure on retailers to specify welfare requirements in sourcing standards, can accelerate the development of genuinely welfare-positive aquaculture markets.