Snakehead and other live fish sold in Asian markets are kept in overcrowded tanks with poor water quality for extended periods, causing chronic stress and injury before killing methods that often lack humane stunning.
Live fish in market holding tanks experience chronic stress from overcrowding, poor water quality, and the sensory disturbances of continuous handling activity around them. Killing without prior stunning involves the fish remaining conscious during painful procedures. The high volume of fish passing through live markets makes this a numerically significant welfare issue. Adoption of humane slaughter methods is technically straightforward but requires consumer and regulatory pressure to drive change.