Examining where existing aquaculture certification schemes fall short on animal welfare and how to address gaps.
Aquaculture certification schemes have made significant progress on environmental sustainability but have been slower to incorporate robust animal welfare standards. Most schemes treat welfare as a subset of health management rather than a primary outcome measure. The result is that certified products may still come from systems with significant welfare problems that fall outside audit scope. Advancing welfare within certification requires both industry-driven commitment and consumer pressure to value genuine welfare assurance over greenwashing.