Atlantic mackerel are largely wild-caught rather than farmed, but capture methods and post-harvest handling cause significant welfare concerns at enormous scale.
Mackerel captured in purse seines experience extreme crowding, oxygen depletion, and physical compression before death. The time from capture to death varies from minutes to hours depending on handling practices. Unlike salmonids, no electrical stunning systems are currently deployed at commercial scale for mackerel. Welfare assessment in wild capture fisheries lags far behind aquaculture. As awareness of fish sentience grows, pressure is increasing on fisheries management bodies to consider welfare alongside sustainability.