Comparing wild caught and farmed seafood from a welfare perspective is complex, with both systems presenting significant animal welfare concerns.
The wild versus farmed seafood welfare debate rarely produces a simple winner. Wild caught fish from trawl fisheries die by suffocation and crushing in nets — an acutely traumatic death preceded by the extreme stress of capture and crowding. Farmed fish may suffer chronic welfare harms from crowding and disease but typically experience a faster death at slaughter. The welfare calculus depends on specific methods: a line-caught fish that dies quickly is arguably better off than a farm-raised fish that suffers from sea lice throughout its life.