Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she is taking steps to improve the welfare of farmed fish at the time of slaughter.

Legislation on the protection of animals at the time of killing requires that farmed fish are spared avoidable pain, distress or suffering during their killing and related operations.

Acting on recommendations from the 2021 Post Implementation Review of the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015 my department asked the Animal Welfare Committee to update its 2014 Opinion on the welfare of farmed fish at the time of killing and we are studying their recommendations carefully to determine next steps.