Abalone are marine gastropods increasingly farmed for food, with growing evidence they can experience pain and stress requiring welfare consideration.
The welfare of farmed abalone is an emerging concern. High stocking densities cause chronic stress and injury from competition and abrasion. Poor water quality rapidly causes distress and mortality. Current slaughter methods, including air exposure and chilling, are not validated for humaneness. The precautionary principle suggests improving husbandry conditions and investigating rapid cold stunning or other methods to reduce suffering at slaughter.