The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) sets the right foundational objectives for the management of fisheries and fish populations in the EU’s waters. Yet, to date, it still ignores fish welfare.

Since Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) requires that fishery policy “pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals” and the current CFP only provides for the conservation of all marine biological resources and the management of fisheries activities, future fisheries policy should explicitly provide for animal welfare.

A life worth living for fish and other animals in aquaculture systems can be achieved by ensuring the right inputs and monitoring outcomes across the 5 domains. We welcome the option in the Commission’s 2021 Inception Impact Assessment to introduce species-specific requirements for farmed fish.

Here we set out recommendations based on science and existing guidelines that should be implemented as legal standards. Many of these recommendations are applicable across species and are based on current best practices.

This briefing serves as an annex to our White Paper - No Animal Left Behind: The need for a new Kept Animals Regulation.

The sentience of decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs and their ability to feel pain is well established and widely recognised. Wild capture and farming of these animals for food is going on without welfare standards. There is an urgent need to establish science based standards for the transport, slaughter and farming of decapod crustaceans, and for the prohibition of the farming of cephalopod molluscs before the sector emerges.

Every year, somewhere around one trillion (1,000,000,000,000) wild fish are captured, with a significant majority being killed for food. Even with this conservative estimate, this far outnumbers any animal farmed for food, and yet despite scientific evidence that fish are sentient – public concern and consumer awareness about fish and their welfare is far behind that of other farmed animals. This report looks at the various hazards faced by wild fish throughout the process of capture, through to handling and death, and proposes measures and strategies to reduce unnecessary suffering.