Abalone are increasingly farmed globally for their highly valued meat, with welfare questions centered on their molluscan nervous system and the stressors of intensive aquaculture conditions.
Abalone welfare science sits in similar uncertain territory to oysters and mussels — their simple nervous system makes consciousness unlikely in the mammalian sense, but they respond to noxious stimuli and show behavioral stress responses. From a precautionary welfare perspective, husbandry conditions that reduce disease and physical damage are appropriate regardless of the sentience question. Overcrowded abalone suffer higher mortality from disease and mechanical injury from conspecific contact. Live transport is stressful in the sense that physiological measurements show increased stress markers, even if the subjective experience is uncertain. Water quality and temperature stability are the primary welfare-relevant management variables — abalone are extremely sensitive to temperature fluctuation, and warming seas due to climate change have caused mass mortality events in wild and farmed populations alike.