Third-party certification programs for farmed fish and shellfish increasingly include welfare criteria, but standards vary widely in rigor and coverage.
Aquaculture certification has made significant progress on environmental sustainability, but welfare criteria have lagged behind. The best certifications now require pre-slaughter stunning and basic crowding limits for salmon, but equivalent welfare standards do not yet exist for most other farmed aquatic species. The rapid growth of aquaculture means that establishing meaningful welfare standards now — before the industry scales further — is critical. Consumers and buyers can drive improvement by preferring certifications with the most rigorous welfare criteria.