Puffins are one of the UK best-loved seabirds but colonies have declined dramatically at many sites due to sand eel shortages driven by warming seas and overfishing.
Puffin chicks that starve because parents cannot find sand eels experience suffering that is the direct consequence of human fishing and climate policies. Adult puffins making repeated failed fishing trips suffer physiological stress. Protection of foraging areas and reduction of sand eel fishing are the key welfare interventions.