Eel farming — particularly of European and Japanese eel — involves welfare challenges at every stage from capture of wild juveniles through intensive grow-out and slaughter.
Eel farming presents an unusual convergence of conservation and welfare concerns: the inability to breed eels in captivity means farmed eel production directly depletes already critically endangered wild eel populations, while the intensive rearing conditions impose further welfare costs on wild-caught juveniles. Eels experience significant stress from handling, air exposure, and high-density rearing, and their physiological responses to aversive stimuli are consistent with pain experience. Slaughter practices for eels are among the least welfare-conscious of any farmed aquatic species. Both the conservation and welfare cases argue strongly for substantial reduction in eel consumption, with priority given to recovery of wild populations over supporting an industry with deep structural welfare and sustainability problems.