Common carp is the most produced freshwater fish species globally, with production dominated by China. Despite the scale, welfare standards for carp farming remain poorly developed.
The welfare significance of carp is underestimated due to perceptions of low intelligence, but behavioral research demonstrates pain responses and avoidance learning consistent with sentience. Extreme crowding in pond culture causes gill damage and chronic stress. Live storage in small containers before holiday cooking causes prolonged distress in many Central and Eastern European traditions. Slaughter by clubbing or leaving fish to asphyxiate on ice causes suffering that percussion stunning followed by gill cutting would eliminate. Welfare standards for carp are virtually nonexistent in most producing countries despite the species being farmed in billion-individual quantities.