Freshwater crayfish are increasingly farmed for food globally, with limited welfare standards and emerging scientific questions about their capacity for pain and distress.
Farmed crayfish welfare sits at the frontier of animal welfare law, with scientific evidence supporting sentience but legal protection lagging for farmed individuals. The precautionary principle applied by the UK government for wild decapods should logically extend to farmed crayfish. Until regulations catch up, consumers and industry actors can lead on welfare improvement through voluntary adoption of humane slaughter practices.