The Welsh Government says boiling lobsters alive is wrong – but that’s not enough

Mike Hedges – MS for Gŵyr Abertawe

The Welsh Government has acknowledged that boiling lobsters alive is not an acceptable method of slaughter. It is working with Defra, the other devolved governments, and industry to develop guidance on the humane killing of lobsters and other decapod crustaceans. Welsh ministers also confirmed that the Animal Welfare Committee is examining the welfare of decapods throughout the UK supply chain.

This announcement comes in response to a letter from The Animal Law Foundation, 42 other animal-protection organisations and legal experts, who called on the Welsh Government to acknowledge that the live boiling of lobsters and crabs is incompatible with existing Welsh animal-welfare law.

The Government’s recent acceptance that live boiling is indeed unacceptable is an important and welcome first step, but more still needs to be done.

In restaurants and kitchens across Wales, lobsters continue to be dropped alive and fully conscious into pans of boiling water. Scientific evidence gathered by the London School of Economics shows that it can take more than two minutes for lobsters killed in this way to die, and that the process can cause severe and prolonged pain.

Other methods of killing lobsters also exist that cause less suffering when performed correctly and competently by a trained person – for example, whole-body longitudinal splitting, which should take no more than ten seconds.

In 2022 alone, 159 tonnes of European lobsters and 340 tonnes of brown crabs were caught in Welsh waters. This represents hundreds of thousands of individual animals.

The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 recognises decapod crustaceans – including lobsters – as sentient beings. They have experiences of their own and are capable of feeling pleasure, pain, and distress.

Lobsters are also protected under the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (Wales) Regulations 2014. Those Regulations prohibit the causing or permitting of avoidable pain, distress, or suffering to lobsters when they are killed.

We know lobsters feel pain, and we know that this pain is avoidable. The Welsh Government’s acknowledgement that boiling animals alive is unacceptable is therefore significant. It recognises the welfare principles at the heart of the existing law.

The next step must be to turn that principle into practical application.

A broader review of welfare throughout the decapod supply chain is welcome. It should not, however, delay action on a specific killing method for which the scientific evidence and law is already clear.

Guidance cannot be allowed to become a substitute for immediate clarity, or a reason to postpone the protection to which these animals are already legally entitled.

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