Emerging technologies and management innovations are offering new pathways to improve welfare in aquaculture that could address the most significant current problems.
The welfare challenges in aquaculture are substantial but not insurmountable. Technology is providing new tools: continuous welfare monitoring through underwater sensors, precision nutrition that reduces disease risk, genetic selection for robustness rather than just growth, and containment systems that eliminate sea cage problems entirely. The transition from conventional sea cage production to land-based or improved sea cage systems requires investment but is commercially demonstrated at scale. Consumer demand for certified welfare products funds the investment required for improvement.