In many cases, improving the conditions that farmed aquatic animals are kept in leads to improved animal health, a reduced need to use antimicrobial agents, less animals dying and a tastier end product for the consumers. Those involved in animal husbandry know this instinctively. This concept is not new and has been touted for farmed land animals under various names such as ‘One Health’ and ‘One Welfare’. We need to embrace this approach and apply it widely across all our food systems.

The same logic applies to wild-caught aquatic animals. Those working on fishing vessels know that the best quality fillets of high value species such as cod, haddock and tuna come from those animals that have been caught using the gentlest methods (e.g., pole-and-line) and have been stunned right away before being brought on deck so as not to need to fight to escape (which leads to lactic acid build up in their muscles). The fish must be slaughtered and bled immediately to preserve the meat quality. Given how discerning Japanese consumers are with the taste of their food, Japanese fishing vessels deploy precise capture & slaughter (known as ‘ike jime’) techniques to obtain ‘sashimi-grade’ meat. In many cases, these same practices can also lead to the least suffering of the captured animal.