In restaurants and kitchens across Northern Ireland, lobsters are 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 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. 

The governments in Westminster and Cardiff Bay have already recognised this problem. Both have confirmed that live boiling decapod crustaceans – including lobsters and crabs – is not an acceptable method of killing under their existing animal-welfare laws.

Northern Ireland, however, seems to be taking a different approach. 

The Animal Law Foundation and 17 other animal-protection organisations wrote to the Northern Ireland Executive asking it to acknowledge that the live boiling of lobsters and crabs is incompatible with existing Northern Irish animal-welfare law. 

In response, DAERA confirmed that it is working with Defra and the other devolved governments to develop guidance setting out which methods of killing decapod crustaceans are compatible with the existing legal requirements. However, when subsequently asked the straightforward question of whether DEARA agreed with England and Wales that boiling lobsters alive is not acceptable under the current law, the Department declined to say.

Instead, DAERA stated that “further detail on what methods of killing decapods are appropriate or advisable will not be published until [the guidance is complete]”.

This leaves Northern Ireland in an increasingly difficult legal position. Whilst the Executive may feel it is strategic to keep its cards close to its chest, it is leaving the public and the industry exposed to potential criminal liability. 

In 2024 alone, 102 tonnes of European lobsters were landed by Northern Irish vessels – the highest figure in more than a decade. This represents well over 100,000 individual animals, where many will no doubt face live boiling. 

The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 recognises decapod crustaceans 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 (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2014. Those Regulations prohibit the causing or permitting of avoidable pain, distress, or suffering to lobsters and crabs when they are killed. 

We know lobsters feel pain, and we know that this pain is avoidable. The question is therefore not whether Northern Ireland should introduce an entirely new protection. It is how the existing protection should be applied. 

England, Wales and Northern Ireland all have equivalent Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing Regulations which use the same core wording. Yet businesses and consumers in England and Wales have been given a clear indication that live boiling is unacceptable, while those in Northern Ireland have effectively been told to wait. 

There is no obvious welfare or legal justification for that distinction. 

Guidance is welcome; however, the Northern Irish Executive should not have to wait for new guidance to make it clear that such protections already exist.  

DAERA should follow England and Wales and state unequivocally that lobsters and crabs should not be boiled alive whilst conscious. 

Edie Bowles is executive director of the The Animal Law Foundation.