European eels are critically endangered yet farmed in large numbers. Their complex lifecycle and high sensitivity to handling make eel farming among the most welfare-challenging aquaculture systems.
Farmed eel welfare faces a compound problem: the farming of a critically endangered species in conditions with minimal welfare research or standards, using slaughter methods that welfare science would reject if applied to other species. Eels are sensitive, reactive animals that experience handling distress measurably, yet are routinely held at densities and subjected to slaughter methods that would prompt regulatory action if applied to salmon or trout. The reliance on wild-caught glass eels for stock because breeding in captivity is not yet possible also means that every farmed eel represents a reduction in the already depleted wild population. Reducing eel consumption addresses both welfare and conservation concerns simultaneously.