Sturgeon are ancient fish farmed primarily for caviar production, with their welfare in intensive aquaculture systems shaped by the extreme duration of farming required before harvest.
Sturgeon welfare in aquaculture is shaped by the extraordinarily long production cycle these fish require. Years or decades of confinement before sexual maturity and harvest create cumulative welfare costs from chronic stress in intensive systems. Water quality management is critical — ammonia and nitrate accumulation in recirculating systems require constant monitoring. Non-lethal caviar harvesting methods, while an improvement over historical killing, involve handling stress and abdominal massage that affects welfare. The welfare implications of such long-term intensive confinement deserve more scientific attention than they have received.