REVEALED: Millions of farmed fish slaughtered with no welfare inspections
When a farmed fish is killed in England or Wales, nobody from the Government is routinely checking how they die. That is the conclusion of months of correspondence with three separate government bodies, each of which has said the responsibility lies elsewhere.
In August 2026, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) told an Animal Equality UK supporter that it “does not carry out, commission or oversee routine or mandatory inspections to monitor animal welfare during the harvest of farmed fish.” It pointed us to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).
APHA had already addressed the question. In a 2022 Freedom of Information response to The Humane League UK, it said it does “not currently carry out mandatory inspections of fish slaughterhouses,” and suggested the FSA might be responsible. When asked again in September, APHA confirmed nothing had changed and referred the question to the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI), a body focused on fish disease rather than welfare. On 24th September, the FHI confirmed that welfare inspections fall outside its remit.
In a separate 2024 Freedom of Information response, APHA confirmed it had no planned welfare inspection programme for farmed fish at slaughter in England and Wales. In February 2025, the Government’s Animal Sentience Committee warned that farmed fish “are not included in risk-based models at all” for welfare inspections, meaning they may only be inspected in response to a complaint.
What happens without oversight
Animal Equality’s undercover investigation at Bibury Trout Farm in the Cotswolds, filmed across three visits in 2025, shows what can happen when no one is watching. The footage showed trout being struck as many as ten times before losing consciousness, fish being trodden on, and fish left out of water for up to 20 minutes to suffocate. Some were still moving and gasping when they were taken to be gutted.
Around 77 million farmed fish are slaughtered in the UK each year. Animal Equality estimates that approximately 7,742 tonnes of trout are killed in England and Wales alone, equating to millions of animals annually. According to the British Trout Association, the UK has almost 290 trout farms, including hatcheries, concentrated in northern England, southern England and southern Scotland.
A promise still waiting on a timetable
In December 2025, the Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy for England committed to introducing species-specific slaughter legislation for farmed fish. Nine months on, no consultation has been published. Asked about the timetable in a Parliamentary question earlier this month, the Government said only that details would follow “in due course.”
We at Animal Equality say the commitment is long overdue, and so do thousands of people who have signed our petition calling for legal protections for farmed fish. The Government’s expert advisory body, then the Farm Animal Welfare Council and now the Animal Welfare Committee, first called for farmed fish slaughter legislation in 1996. It returned to the issue in 2014, and again in 2023, when it urged governments across the UK to require fish to be stunned before slaughter and to put inspection systems in place to enforce those standards.
Three decades later, farmed fish still lack the detailed legal protections at slaughter that apply to land animals, and no one is routinely checking how they die.
Abigail Penny, Executive Director of Animal Equality UK, said:
It is a disgrace that not a single government agency will take responsibility for checking on their welfare at slaughter. This is a huge blind spot, and it leaves these animals all the more vulnerable behind closed doors. Our investigations show fish being beaten, trodden on and left to slowly suffocate.
What the experts recommended
The Animal Welfare Committee’s updated Opinion on the welfare of fish at the time of killing, commissioned by the Government and published on 28th September 2023, set out a series of clear, proportionate recommendations:
- Mandatory stunning at slaughter
- CCTV in fish abattoirs
- Increased oversight and inspections
- Greater transparency around on-farm mortalities
- Penalties for legal non-compliance
These build on the Committee’s earlier Opinions from 1996 and 2014, and are reflected in the Government’s own Animal Welfare Strategy, which commits to “improving welfare at the time of killing, including by introducing legislative requirements for the humane slaughter of farmed fish.”
You can help build a world where this cruelty doesn’t happen. By choosing plant-based meals and leaving animals off your plate entirely, you can save lives and still eat delicious, nutritious food. Try our free cookbook and discover your next favourite meal.
Protect Fish
Scientists confirm that fish feel pain and suffer. Protect these sensitive beings by choosing plant-based alternatives to animal food products.
