Spiny lobsters are traded live internationally in large numbers. The welfare of these animals during capture, transport and sale raises increasing concerns as crustacean sentience evidence grows.
Spiny lobster welfare during international live trade involves prolonged stress over multiple handling events. Harvest from the wild involves baited trap capture, which may hold lobsters for extended periods. Transport from remote fishing grounds involves chilling, packing and air freight lasting many hours. Arrival at destination markets involves further handling and holding in tanks. Each transition involves significant stress measurable through metabolic changes. The navigational biology of spiny lobsters - using magnetic field detection for long-distance migration - raises questions about the sensory experience of captive confinement that disrupt their natural orientation. The growing evidence for crustacean sentience creates increasing pressure for welfare standards to be applied to this commercially important but welfare-neglected species.