Welfare regulation for farmed fish is advancing globally but remains patchwork, with significant variation in standards creating welfare-uneven markets for seafood.
The global patchwork of aquaculture welfare regulation creates a race-to-the-bottom risk where production relocates to lower-welfare jurisdictions. Countries with strong regulations face competitiveness disadvantages unless their markets require equivalent welfare standards from imports. The EU is beginning to address this through import equivalence requirements, but full alignment remains distant. In the meantime, certification schemes and retailer procurement standards provide the most meaningful tools available to welfare-conscious consumers.