Ocean acidification caused by climate change is increasingly affecting fish behavior, physiology, and welfare. Research is revealing complex effects on fish sensory systems and stress responses.
Ocean acidification represents a slowly escalating welfare threat for billions of wild fish. Unlike acute welfare events, acidification causes chronic, cumulative effects on fish physiology and behavior - impairing sensory systems that fish rely on for survival, disrupting stress response systems, and potentially causing chronic disorientation in affected populations. The welfare implications are intertwined with conservation concerns: fish that cannot smell predators, locate home reefs, or navigate effectively experience higher predation rates and chronic stress. Addressing climate change is therefore simultaneously a conservation and animal welfare imperative.