Fish welfare at slaughter has historically been neglected — emerging science and regulation are pushing for effective stunning before killing across aquaculture species.
The scale of fish slaughter in aquaculture dwarfs that of all terrestrial livestock combined, yet welfare at the point of killing has received far less regulatory and scientific attention. The evidence that fish experience pain and stress is now robust enough that several countries have introduced stunning requirements, led by Norway for salmon. However, implementation across the diversity of farmed species faces genuine technical challenges — methods effective for large salmonids are impractical for small-bodied tilapia, pangasius, or shrimp. Research programs are developing species-specific stunning protocols, but commercial adoption lags behind the science. The ethical imperative is clear: the number of animals involved means even marginal improvements in slaughter welfare prevent enormous quantities of suffering.