Let's end the suffering of lobsters, crabs and spiny lobsters

Manifesto of the coalition
Dalla parte dei crostacei

Four urgent demands for the protection of the welfare of decapod crustaceans in Italy

In Italy, decapod crustaceans can arrive alive on market counters, causing them great suffering. It is also legal to cook them alive, without killing or stunning them first.

Science has now amply demonstrated the capacity of decapod crustaceans to feel pain and suffering. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the British Veterinary Association (BVA) have recognised these animals as beings with complex behaviour, considerable learning abilities and a certain level of awareness, capable of feeling pain and therefore deserving of protection.

Yet, despite qualifying as "sentient beings", decapod crustaceans used for food are still not protected by European animal welfare legislation. This means that the protections granted to other animals during transport, holding and killing are not guaranteed to decapod crustaceans, exposing them to unacceptable practices that cause them prolonged pain, such as being displayed on ice and boiled alive.

The situation in Italy

Italy has no national legislation protecting these animals. Several municipalities have nonetheless introduced regulations setting protection standards for the sale and/or consumption of these animals in restaurants. However, this is an uneven regulatory patchwork, based on differing scientific parameters, which remains inadequate and difficult to enforce.

Italian courts have long recognised that decapod crustaceans deserve protection: this is shown by the convictions of two restaurateurs — in Florence in 2017 and in Milan in 2019 — for keeping live lobsters lying on ice. The Court of Cassation has already made clear that this practice constitutes a criminal offence because it is contrary to these animals' nature. Cases like these, however, further highlight the absence of a national law that clearly and systematically protects decapod crustaceans from practices incompatible with their welfare.

What is happening in other countries?

Around the world — in New Zealand, for example — as well as in Europe, in Switzerland, Austria and Norway, national rules on the treatment of decapod crustaceans already exist. Recently, decapod crustaceans were also recognised as sentient beings in the United Kingdom. The adoption of a law protecting these animals' welfare in Italy could set an example in Europe, prompting other states to take this step.

What we are asking for

The fishing of these animals is growing faster globally than that of any other group of animals. It is therefore urgent and necessary to introduce national legislation that protects them adequately, in line with the most recent and reliable scientific evidence. This is a case where Article 9 of the Italian Constitution — which places on the State the duty to regulate the ways and forms of animal protection — must be put into practice.

Through this manifesto, we call for:

1. A ban on keeping live decapod crustaceans in direct contact with ice or in ice water, as this practice causes suffering and endangers their health and welfare;
2. A ban on boiling decapod crustaceans alive (including slowly raising the water temperature), as this causes prolonged suffering;
3. A ban on the direct sale of live decapod crustaceans to consumers (including online purchases), since in these cases there is no way to verify how the animals are kept, handled and killed, posing a risk to their welfare;
4. Legal recognition of decapod crustaceans as sentient beings, capable of feeling pain and suffering like other animals already recognised as such — mammals and birds — in light of the extensive scientific evidence supporting this.

These demands are straightforward solutions, some already in place in other countries. We therefore ask Italy to heed society's growing calls on behalf of these animals, becoming a virtuous model for the rest of the world.

European legislation

Even though the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) itself has recognised decapod crustaceans as sentient beings, to this day these animals enjoy no protection under European law.

Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 lays down the rules to follow when killing animals, with the aim of minimising their suffering. However, its definition of 'animals' entirely excludes aquatic animals other than fish — for which the protections provided are in any case ineffective, insufficient and inadequate. As a result, rules such as those requiring stunning before killing do not apply, and there are no provisions detailing which killing techniques should be used to ensure these animals suffer as little as possible.

Similarly, Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 lays down the rules to follow when transporting live animals; however, under the regulation's definition, 'animals' means vertebrates only, thereby excluding decapod crustaceans from its scope and from the protections it offers.

Decapod crustaceans are thus entirely excluded from the scope of European legislation, remaining effectively without protection in Italy as well. This means they can fall victim to practices that severely harm their welfare, such as wounds and mutilations during capture, confinement in cramped spaces and out of water — at temperatures well below or above what they can tolerate — and, finally, killing in ways that cause enormous suffering, such as being dismembered or boiled alive.

The situation in Italy

In Italy, keeping crustaceans in conditions incompatible with their nature and causing severe suffering can, in principle, constitute a criminal offence.

Although the law does not protect these animals, courts have long recognised the need to protect them from treatment in open conflict with their nature.

Court of Cassation, 2017 — Florence

On 17 January 2017 the Court of Cassation (Cass. Pen., Sez. III, no. 27173/2016) rejected the appeal brought against a ruling of the Court of Florence that had sentenced a restaurant manager to a fine of €5,000.00, plus €3,000.00 in damages to the civil party, for keeping live crustaceans in a cold room with their claws bound — that is, in conditions incompatible with their nature and causing severe suffering. This case is an important precedent for the protection of decapod crustaceans in Italy, as it established that certain conditions in which these animals are kept are at odds with the protection of their welfare and may constitute a criminal offence.

Milan, 2019

The 2017 case did not remain isolated. On 13 May 2019, following reports from customers, OIPA's volunteer animal-protection officers visited a restaurant on the eastern outskirts of Milan, where they found a lobster still alive, with its claws bound, in a plastic tray placed on ice inside a refrigerator. Prosecutor Sara Arduini requested a fine of €2,000.00, which the restaurateur challenged, requesting probation instead. The judge therefore ordered three months of community service at one of the shelters run by the City Angels, a group of street volunteers helping the homeless and people in need.

These two court cases show that, although the Court of Cassation has already established that keeping these animals on ice constitutes an offence, Italy still lacks a national law that effectively protects these animals from treatment incompatible with their nature.