Key Welfare Recommendations for Marine Capture Fisheries

Authors: Wasseem Emam, Christine Xu

Animal welfare issues in commercial fisheries are widespread and significant. In fact, wild-caught fish remains the last major food-producing sector that does not take animal welfare into consideration. This report introduces the concept of an animal welfare-based approach (WBA) to capture fisheries and urges its adoption. It also calls for more research and financial support from all relevant stakeholders to develop ‘welfare-minded’ fishing gear, soak times and retrieval rates, scale up humane stunning and slaughter onboard, and limit the capture of non-target species.