European and Japanese eels are among the most farmed fish globally, but their welfare in intensive aquaculture and the collapse of wild populations raise serious concerns.
Eel welfare in aquaculture presents compounding problems: wild-capture for glass eel seed stock is driving wild population collapse, intensive culture conditions cause chronic stress, and slaughter methods are among the most welfare-compromised in the seafood industry. Unlike salmon or trout, eels are difficult to breed in captivity — their complex reproductive migration means commercial aquaculture relies entirely on wild-caught juveniles, creating an inextricable link between farming expansion and wild stock depletion. The welfare of individual farmed eels — kept at high densities in recirculating systems where water quality management is challenging — is poorly studied. Consumer demand reduction is likely the most immediate welfare and conservation intervention available.