European sea bass and Asian sea bass are increasingly farmed worldwide, with welfare challenges including high stocking densities, handling stress, and inadequate stunning before slaughter.
Sea bass are sentient fish capable of experiencing pain and stress. In intensive farm conditions, they cannot perform natural predatory behaviors and are subjected to crowding that causes chronic stress. Handling during harvest, transport, and slaughter causes acute distress. The most common slaughter method - placing fish on ice while conscious - causes a prolonged death lasting up to an hour. Evidence strongly supports that sea bass feel pain, making current practices ethically problematic from a welfare standpoint.