Aquatic Animal Welfare

Atlantic Salmon Welfare: Comprehensive Assessment

Atlantic salmon is the most important farmed fish species by welfare research investment, with comprehensive welfare frameworks now available for the industry.

Key Facts

The Norwegian salmon industry has developed welfare indicators covering the full production cycle
Key welfare indicators include gill health, fin damage, sea lice burden, and cataract prevalence
Atlantic salmon experience significant welfare challenges from sea lice, amoebic gill disease, and cataracts
Welfare indicators can be combined into summary welfare scores for farm benchmarking
Consumer-facing welfare labelling for salmon is developing based on welfare outcome scores

Welfare Considerations

Atlantic salmon welfare science is the most developed of any farmed fish species, reflecting the economic importance of the industry and increasing regulatory and consumer attention. Comprehensive welfare assessment frameworks covering multiple welfare indicators across the production cycle enable meaningful welfare comparison between farms. This creates market incentives for welfare improvement that are beginning to transform industry practice.

What You Can Do

Choose salmon with welfare certification from higher-scoring farms
Support organizations developing and validating salmon welfare assessment frameworks
Advocate for mandatory welfare reporting for Atlantic salmon producers
Donate to fish welfare organizations working on salmon welfare assessment and improvement