Electrical stunning can render fish unconscious rapidly before slaughter, substantially improving welfare. Implementation across aquaculture species is advancing but uneven.
The absence of effective pre-slaughter stunning in most fish aquaculture means that billions of fish globally are killed while conscious, often through methods that cause significant suffering such as live asphyxiation in air, CO2 narcosis, or ice slurry chilling. The development and commercial deployment of effective electrical stunning represents a major welfare advance. The key challenges are ensuring that stunning is effective (not merely causing spasm without unconsciousness), that it reaches the entire batch, and that it is implemented for the full range of farmed fish species. Welfare organisations and certification bodies are working to establish stunning as a standard requirement, supported by growing scientific evidence that fish are sentient and experience the slaughter process.