Animal aquaculture causes enormous suffering to animals. It is also responsible for serious environmental harm and damage to ecosystems.

The Animal Justice Party (AJP) is opposed to animal aquaculture and will advocate to phase out the industry. In the interim, the AJP advocates for sound, evidence-based regulation and monitoring of aquaculture operations to minimise impacts on animals and the environment.

Key Objectives

1. Abolish all animal aquaculture.

Interim measures:

1. Immediately ban cruel mutilation practices such as eye-stalk ablation.
2. Preemptively ban octopus farming.
3. Provide economic incentives to transition away from animal aquaculture. 
4. Mandate comprehensive public reporting on animal mortality, escapes, disease outbreaks, faecal load, and the use of antibiotics and chemicals.
5. Raise awareness of the science revealing the sentience and the emotional, social and cognitive capabilities of aquatic animals.
6. Ensure that aquatic animals are covered by animal care, protection and cruelty laws in all states and territories (see our Animal Law Policy).
7. Ensure the aquaculture industry does not degrade natural habitats or threaten biodiversity.
8. Require regulatory equivalence between local and imported aquaculture products.
9. Require effective pre-slaughter electrical stunning which ensures fish remain unconscious until death. Prohibit slaughter methods that cause prolonged suffering, such as asphyxiation in air or ice slurry slaughter.

Background

Animal aquaculture involves the farming of fish, molluscs, crustaceans and amphibians. Many of these animals have no legal protection. 

Aquaculture occurs in oceans, estuaries and freshwater bodies, as well as in factory farm-style industrial facilities. The true number of animals killed in this industry is unknown, as their lives are only measured in tonnes, rather than individual lives lost. In 2023-24, the Australian animal aquaculture industry killed 118,000 tonnes of animals. Globally, humans now consume more farmed fish than fish taken from the ocean.  

Animal suffering

Aquaculture is a major cause of suffering. The animals are kept in crowded conditions, are removed from their pens by capture (often by vacuum), and their handling and transportation cause extreme stress and injury. Animals also suffer from social stress, aggression and the inability to display natural behaviours. The conditions of these fish farms are extremely traumatic. For example, many farmed salmon float lifelessly on the surface of their cages, suffering from a condition that scientists say is akin to severe depression. 

Common killing processes for fish, such as asphyxiation, cause intense pain, which fish are forced to endure for up to 20 minutes until they die. Fish and other aquatic animals, such as octopuses and crabs, are sentient animals. They experience pain and suffering similarly to mammals and birds, but this suffering happens in places most people never see: fish farms, trawlers and sea-ports.

People often believe that animal aquaculture is a way to reduce human impacts on wild aquatic animals. However, many fish farms use wild fish as feed, with only a low percentage of feed converted to fish meat. For example, species such as salmon and trout are carnivorous and are fed wild-caught fish, usually in the form of fishmeal. Researchers found that these ‘fish biomass inputs exceeded twice the farmed fish biomass’. This means that aquaculture has a much larger impact, on both the environment and the suffering of fish, than is commonly believed.

Farmed fish are prone to parasites and diseases as they live in overcrowded environments. This creates a risk of transmission of parasites and diseases to wild-living fish.

The transport of live animals from aquaculture farms to slaughter and processing facilities is stressful and may result in injury or death. A research paper reports that ‘an overwhelming majority of fish farmed throughout the world are currently killed with little or no consideration for their welfare, with most killed by asphyxia in air or ice slurry, without prior stunning.’

Environmental impacts 

Aquaculture creates large amounts of wastewater caused by uneaten fish feed, drugs such as antibiotics, chemicals, dead animals and excrement. This has detrimental impacts on the environment. For example, salmon farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour is threatening the survival of the endangered Maugean skate in their only known habitat.

The development and operation of aquaculture farms frequently cause significant disruption to coastal and aquatic ecosystems. The conversion of coastal land for aquaculture can result in the destruction of mangroves and seagrass beds, both of which are critical habitats for many native species and part of the coastal ecosystem.

Aquaculture can also affect wild fish populations. Effluent containing pathogens and parasites from aquaculture sites may spill into wild fish populations. For example, sea lice from salmon farms can become a threat to wild fish.  

Escapes of farmed fish, either accidentally during storms or due to equipment failure, present a major environmental threat. Farmed fish often differ genetically from wild conspecifics due to selective breeding for traits such as fast growth. When these escaped animals interbreed with wild populations, they can reduce genetic diversity, reproductive success and overall resilience.

Climate change and animal aquaculture

Aquaculture operations are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including extreme weather events such as storms, floods and heatwaves. These events can cause physical damage to aquaculture infrastructure, leading to mass escapes of farmed animals or sudden death.

The aquaculture sector contributes to greenhouse gas emissions through energy use, for example, for aeration, pumping and processing, feed production and associated supply chains. In particular, farming carnivorous species like salmon relies heavily on wild fish and feed that require significant energy to produce. Globally, aquaculture’s greenhouse gas emissions are extremely high, as shown in the following graph.

Ocean acidification and hypoxia (low levels of oxygen) caused by climate change compound the stress on both wild and farmed aquatic animals, reducing their growth rates and survival.

Relevant policies:   Animal Law Policy

Last Updated: April 2026