European and Japanese eels are among the world's most prized seafood but are critically endangered in the wild. Farmed eel welfare lags behind other aquaculture species despite significant commercial production.
Eel welfare in aquaculture intersects with one of the most pressing conservation crises in European fish populations. Eels tolerate crowding better than salmon but still experience significant stress from poor water quality, handling, and transport. The complete reliance on wild glass eels for aquaculture means that improving production conditions doesn't just affect farmed animals - it connects to the collapse of wild eel populations. The welfare case for eels includes both individual suffering prevention and ecosystem-level conservation. Slaughter welfare for eels is particularly concerning: their hardiness means death by common methods may be prolonged, and welfare-positive stunning followed by killing is not consistently practiced.