Catfish farming is a major aquaculture sector in the US, Vietnam, and Africa, with welfare concerns around stocking density, water quality, and handling during harvest.
Catfish share core fish welfare concerns — pain responses, stress hormones, and avoidance learning consistent with sentience. Intensive pond farming creates crowding stress, oxygen depletion during low-oxygen events, and traumatic harvest through seining that presses fish into tight concentrations. Welfare science for catfish is underdeveloped relative to their commercial importance and the numbers involved.