Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) farming supplies the unagi market across Japan, China and South Korea. The welfare and conservation implications of this culturally significant food industry deserve serious attention.
The unagi industry presents a near-perfect case study in the collision of cultural tradition, conservation crisis and animal welfare. The cultural significance of unagi in Japan - particularly on Doyo no Ushi no Hi (midsummer eel day) - sustains demand for a product whose production involves critically endangered species harvested from the wild, farmed at extreme densities, and often prepared by live slaughter without pre-stunning. The welfare harms at each stage - wild capture, intensive farming, and slaughter - are compounded by the conservation harm of depleting endangered wild populations. Consumer awareness of these issues, even within Japan, is growing but has not yet driven significant industry reform.