The final hours before slaughter are among the highest-risk welfare periods for farmed fish. Crowding, removal from water, and transport to slaughter facilities cause significant stress and can affect both welfare and product quality.
Pre-slaughter management is a welfare pinch point where cumulative stress from multiple sources compounds in a short time window. Fish arrive at slaughter already stressed from crowding, handling, and transport — and then face the final welfare event of killing itself. The welfare cost of this process matters not only for the fish but for understanding what the food system is actually doing to billions of sentient animals at scale. Improving pre-slaughter welfare requires attention to the entire chain of events from first crowding through final slaughter — each step has opportunities for improvement.