Wild salmon face welfare threats throughout their lifecycle from river to ocean, with habitat restoration offering both conservation and welfare benefits.
Wild salmon experience welfare challenges that span their entire lifecycle: migrations blocked by dams, temperature stress in warm rivers, predation pressure from depleted ocean prey, and sea lice burden during coastal migration. The environmental conditions that improve salmon population viability — cooler rivers, unobstructed migration routes, ocean prey abundance — simultaneously improve individual salmon welfare. River restoration for salmon is an example where ecosystem restoration and individual welfare improvement are perfectly aligned.