How fish are killed during harvest has major welfare implications for the billions processed annually in aquaculture and wild fisheries.
Fish welfare at slaughter remains one of the most neglected areas of animal welfare. The sheer scale — hundreds of billions of fish killed annually — combined with limited regulation means most farmed and wild-caught fish experience prolonged suffering during killing. Effective methods like electrical stunning, percussive stunning, and ikejime exist but are rarely implemented at scale due to cost and industry inertia. Consumer demand for higher welfare seafood can drive adoption.