Fish welfare at slaughter has received increasing attention as evidence for fish sentience grows, with significant variation in stunning methods and their effectiveness across species.
Fish slaughter welfare represents one of the most significant unaddressed animal welfare issues globally by scale. The dominant killing methods - asphyxiation in air, ice slurry immersion, and CO2 exposure - are all associated with prolonged survival time during which fish display distress behaviors and physiological stress indicators. Evidence for fish sentience has advanced substantially, with neural and behavioral evidence supporting the capacity for pain experience. The suffering caused by billions of fish being slaughtered by slow asphyxiation annually represents an enormous welfare burden that receives far less attention than mammal slaughter welfare. Electrical stunning followed by immediate brain destruction is achievable and dramatically reduces time to insensibility, representing the current best practice.