We have already had occasion to examine the protection afforded to decapod crustaceans in Italy, those crustaceans belonging to the order Decapoda — that is, equipped with ten legs — such as European lobsters, spiny lobsters and crabs. Although our legal system still lacks a law protecting these animals, some countries, such as Norway, the United Kingdom and Australia, have extended the principles of their animal protection legislation to these animals too, deeming them worthy of consideration and of certain protections
The legal framework in Norway
Within the Norwegian legal system, the rules on the protection of animal welfare — whose scope also covers decapod crustaceans — are laid down by the Animal Welfare Act of 2009, which recognises that animals have an intrinsic value, beyond the value they hold for humankind. This in turn establishes the need to guarantee them good treatment, with protection from unnecessary stress and suffering. With regard to the transport of live animals, the Act requires the use of means suited to their ethological needs and imposes a general obligation of prior stunning before they are killed. There is a specific prohibition on keeping crustaceans out of water for longer than is reasonable given the species and the air temperature, together with an obligation to keep them in an environment that safeguards their freedom of movement, natural behaviour and rest. There is also an obligation to protect them from noise and the elements, and from injury and infection, and to handle and move them with care and gentleness, without causing them unnecessary pain and stress. Although detailed provisions clarifying the standards to be met for the protection of these animals are lacking, the principles enshrined in the legislation offer a first degree of consideration for these animals.
The legal framework in the United Kingdom
In 2017 the British organisation Crustacean Compassion set in motion the process that in 2022 led to the explicit recognition of decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs as sentient beings in the United Kingdom. Defra (the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), faced with the evidence of sentience emerging from the report Review of the Evidence of Sentience in Cephalopod Molluscs and Decapod Crustaceans commissioned from the London School of Economics and Political Science, amended clause 5 of the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act to include decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs within the definition of animal, while also allowing regulations to be adopted for the future inclusion of further invertebrates. Although this decision has not so far affected the laws or policies concerning these animals, it is an important first step towards full legal protection for these animals in the United Kingdom.
The legal framework in Australia
The protection of crustaceans in Australia is uneven, partly owing to the country’s distinctive administrative structure: while the six States into which it is divided are independent of the federal Government, its ten territories, both internal and external, are entirely dependent on the central power of the Commonwealth of Australia.
In South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, the definition of animals does not include crustaceans, which are left without any protection. In the Northern Territory, any crustacean is recognised as an animal, while in the remaining jurisdictions — New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Queensland — only certain types of crustaceans, and only in specific circumstances, are regarded as animals. In general, in the states and territories that recognise crustaceans as animals, acts of cruelty are prohibited and a duty of care towards these animals applies.
In 2017 came the first conviction for cruelty to crustaceans in Australia, over the treatment of some European lobsters at the popular fish shop Nicholas Seafood in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales. The conviction was made possible by a video showing a worker butchering a European lobster while it was still alive, in breach of the stunning obligation laid down by the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
Conclusions
Although these countries have no provisions laying down specific rules for the protection of decapod crustaceans, the recognition of these beings as animals constitutes a fundamental first step, one that is necessary for the implementation of rules for their protection.
For a more in-depth treatment of the subject, readers are invited to consult our report Decapod Crustaceans: Between Law and Science (in Italian), published in September 2023, which specifically addresses the legal status of decapod crustaceans in various countries around the world.
Our campaign: Dalla parte dei crostacei
Although scientific evidence has shown that decapod crustaceans are sentient beings, and therefore capable of feeling pain and suffering, in Italy there are no rules at national level protecting these animals. Through the campaign Dalla parte dei crostacei (“On the side of crustaceans”), we at ALI are working to ensure that these animals too are protected by rules that minimise their suffering during capture, holding, transport and killing.
