Farmed fish benefit from environmental enrichment that provides stimulation and reduces chronic stress. This developing welfare field has significant potential for large-scale welfare improvement.
Environmental enrichment for farmed fish is a relatively new welfare research area with significant practical potential. Farmed fish live in simplified environments — bare tanks or net pens — that deny the physical complexity of natural habitats. Research shows that providing structures for shelter and refuge, appropriate flow regimes that allow natural swimming behavior, substrate for bottom-dwellers, and light variation all reduce stress indicators and improve behavioral welfare. The challenge is scaling enrichment to commercial aquaculture while maintaining the hygiene and management efficiency that intensive fish farming requires. Early research suggests that carefully designed enrichment is compatible with commercial production and may improve welfare and production outcomes simultaneously.