Sustainable seafood certification programs aim to reduce overfishing and bycatch impacts, but their welfare implications for individual fish and non-target species are a secondary consideration.
Sustainable seafood programs have made important contributions to reducing overfishing and bycatch at population levels, but individual animal welfare during capture and slaughter is largely absent from current standards. MSC-certified fisheries may still use trawl methods that cause high bycatch welfare harm, and slaughter without stunning remains standard. Integrating welfare criteria — bycatch death minimization, stunning, handling protocols — into sustainability certification would create a more comprehensive framework.