Atlantic wild salmon populations have collapsed to critical levels, with welfare implications for remaining individuals in overstressed populations.
Wild Atlantic salmon in degraded river systems experience thermal stress, sea lice infestation, barrier-blocked migration, and reduced food from invertebrate decline. Each stressor compromises welfare individually while their interaction creates population collapse. Salmon cannot complete their lifecycle, causing reproductive failure and stress-related death. River restoration, lice management, and climate action are the combined welfare and conservation response.