Aquaculture

Farmed Salmon Sea Lice Management and Welfare

Sea lice infestation is one of the most significant welfare challenges in Atlantic salmon farming.

Key Facts

Sea lice cause open wounds, scale loss, and osmotic stress
Heavy infestations can kill juvenile salmon directly
Treatments including hydrogen peroxide and mechanical delousing stress fish
Lice from farms can spread to wild salmon populations

Welfare Considerations

Salmon with severe sea lice infestations experience chronic pain from tissue damage. Delousing treatments, while necessary, impose additional acute stress through crowding, oxygen depletion, and physical contact. Developing effective preventive measures — cleaner fish, closed containment, and breeding resistant strains — is essential to reducing this ongoing welfare burden.

What You Can Do

Choose salmon products with low sea lice welfare certifications
Support development of lice-resistant salmon breeds
Advocate for sea lice reporting transparency in the industry
Donate to research on cleaner fish welfare as a biological control