Crayfish are farmed for human consumption and as fishing bait. Emerging evidence for crustacean sentience raises welfare questions about farming and slaughter practices.
Farmed crayfish welfare has moved from a fringe concern to a policy issue following the UK's legal recognition of decapod crustacean sentience. The evidence base remains contested - crayfish have distributed ganglia rather than a centralised brain, making inference from human and vertebrate models uncertain. However, their demonstrated avoidance behaviour, physiological stress responses, and capacity for learning represent sufficient grounds for precautionary welfare standards. Chilling before dispatch and higher welfare stocking densities represent reasonable minimum standards given current uncertainty.