Electrical and percussive stunning before salmon slaughter improves welfare at the end of life, but implementation quality and coverage remain inconsistent across the industry.
Slaughter represents the final welfare event in a salmon's life, and the method used has a profound effect on whether that death is rapid and humane or prolonged and distressing. Traditional asphyxiation methods — placing live fish into ice slurry — cause extended conscious distress lasting minutes. Electrical stunning, when applied correctly at the appropriate power and frequency for salmon, renders fish insensible effectively and immediately. The barriers to widespread adoption have largely been overcome: commercial stunning systems exist, are proven at scale, and are cost-effective. The remaining gap is regulatory: while Norway mandates stunning, many producing countries still permit non-stunned slaughter. Mandatory stunning requirements with verified implementation standards would close this gap.