Scientific evidence increasingly supports that lobsters and crabs are capable of experiencing pain, prompting significant reconsideration of how these animals are handled, transported, and killed.
The welfare of crustaceans at slaughter and during live transport is an urgent ethical issue that has been substantially underacknowledged due to historical assumptions about invertebrate sentience. The weight of scientific evidence now suggests lobsters and crabs have the neural architecture and behavioral responses consistent with pain experience. Methods like boiling alive or live dismemberment cause potentially significant suffering. Electrical stunning, practiced by some seafood processors, provides a more humane alternative. Consumer and legislative pressure can drive adoption of better practices.