Behavioural monitoring of Atlantic salmon provides early welfare indicators before mortality or clinical disease, enabling proactive welfare intervention.
Atlantic salmon welfare assessment traditionally relied on mortality and clinical disease indicators that are lagging measures of welfare decline. Behavioural indicators provide earlier signals: disrupted schooling, surface crowding, listing (abnormal body angle), and reduced feed intake all indicate welfare problems days or weeks before mortality elevation. Automated camera systems using machine learning can monitor schooling behaviour and surface activity continuously. Welfare-proactive farms use these early indicators to investigate and address welfare challenges before they escalate to clinical disease. Behavioural monitoring represents the future of welfare assurance in salmon farming.