Freshwater fish represent the most diverse vertebrate group but receive the least welfare attention despite facing significant threats from habitat degradation, pollution, invasive species, and overfishing.
Freshwater fish welfare is one of the most overlooked areas of applied animal welfare. The diversity of freshwater fish species makes welfare assessment complex, but the fundamental question — whether fish experience pain and suffering — is increasingly answered affirmatively by the scientific literature. Fish caught in nets, on hooks, or during electrofishing surveys experience tissue damage, physiological stress, and behavioral distress responses that parallel pain responses in other vertebrates. The scale of freshwater fish harvest globally — for food, recreation, and scientific monitoring — means that the aggregate welfare impact of indifference to fish welfare is enormous. Welfare improvements in freshwater fisheries would affect millions to billions of individual animals but face minimal regulatory attention compared to terrestrial livestock welfare.