Abalone are increasingly farmed globally for high-value seafood markets, with welfare considerations centred on water quality, temperature management, and handling stress.
Abalone welfare science is at an early stage, but these molluscs demonstrate clear aversive responses to noxious stimuli and environmental stressors including elevated temperature, low oxygen, and handling. Mass mortality events from herpesvirus disease involve suffering at significant scale. Temperature management is critical, as elevated water temperature impairs immune function and increases viral disease susceptibility. As abalone farming expands globally, there is an opportunity to integrate welfare science into production system design from the outset rather than retrospectively.