Frontiers of Proportionality

Abstract

Abstract Taking invertebrate welfare seriously involves proposing and debating steps that may be proportionate (permissible-in-principle, adequate, non-excessive, consistent) in relation to specific welfare risks. The growing interest in invertebrates as potentially sustainable protein sources underlines the need for these debates. It would be plausibly proportionate to set up a licensing scheme that requires companies farming sentience candidates and investigation priorities to fund the creation (by independent experts) of codes of good practice, where none yet exists. There is one important exception, namely octopus farming. It is very unlikely that octopus farming could ever meet reasonable expectations regarding animal welfare, and so it would be proportionate to ban it outright. Our current state of knowledge makes it difficult to be confident that slaughter is humane or that stunning is effective. It is easier to be confident about what is inhumane. We should not use live boiling without prior stunning in decapods or insects, since this method needlessly risks extending and intensifying the suffering associated with dying.