Eels are intensively farmed for food, particularly in East Asia, but face specific welfare challenges from their unique biology and current farming practices.
Farmed eel welfare raises questions at multiple points in the production chain. The reliance on wild-caught glass eels for seed stock links eel aquaculture to wild population decline, particularly for critically endangered European eels. At the farm level, the aggressive and cannibalistic behaviour of eels at high density creates persistent welfare problems including fin damage and injury. Water quality management is critical — eels are tolerant but not immune to poor conditions, and chronic stress in suboptimal water accelerates disease. At slaughter, stunning is inconsistently applied across the industry, with many eels killed by methods — including boiling alive or decapitation without prior stunning — that likely cause significant suffering. Welfare improvement requires attention to density, water quality, and pre-slaughter stunning.