European and Japanese eel aquaculture depends entirely on wild-caught juvenile eels, creating a direct link between farm welfare and wild eel conservation decline.
Eel aquaculture sits at an unusually sharp intersection of welfare and conservation concerns. Unlike most aquaculture species, eels cannot be captive-bred — every farmed eel started as a wild juvenile removed from already-depleted populations. The welfare implications cascade: wild eels dying in depleted rivers have conservation and ecological welfare costs; farmed eels in tanks face slaughter without effective stunning; glass eels collected intensively face handling mortality. The most welfare-consistent position is reduced eel consumption and elimination of wild glass eel collection for farming until eel populations recover to sustainable levels and captive breeding methods are developed.