Tilapia is one of the world's most farmed fish species, yet welfare standards for tilapia farming lag far behind salmon. Closing this gap is an urgent priority given the scale of production.
Tilapia welfare suffers from a combination of scale, neglect, and evidence gaps. As one of the most produced food fish globally, improvements in tilapia welfare would benefit enormous numbers of individual animals. Yet the research base for tilapia-specific welfare assessment is limited, and most certification schemes that include fish welfare focus primarily on salmon. The conditions typical of intensive tilapia farming in some major producing countries - high density ponds, poor water quality management, and starvation before harvest - reflect welfare priorities that have not kept pace with production growth. Building the evidence base and developing tilapia-specific welfare standards is an urgent priority.