Farmed Atlantic Salmon Welfare | Animal Welfare Hub

Atlantic salmon farming raises significant animal welfare concerns including sea lice infestation, overcrowding, handling stress and high mortality rates, affecting hundreds of millions of fish annually.

Key Facts

Global salmon aquaculture produces approximately 2.5 million tonnes annually, primarily from Norway, Chile and Scotland
Sea lice infestation is a leading welfare problem, causing lesions, tissue damage and secondary infection
Salmon crowding densities in farms can reach 25 kg per cubic metre, far exceeding what fish experience in the wild
Annual mortality rates on salmon farms often exceed 15-20% of stock, representing enormous welfare and financial losses
Treatment methods for sea lice including thermal and mechanical treatments cause significant additional welfare stress

Welfare Considerations

Farmed salmon welfare is compromised at multiple points in the production cycle. Crowding suppresses natural behaviour and increases aggression and injury. Sea lice cause chronic pain through tissue destruction. Thermal delousing treatments involve exposing fish to water temperatures outside their comfort zone for several minutes, causing extreme stress. Slaughter methods vary from humane electrical stunning to methods that cause prolonged suffering. The scale of salmon farming — hundreds of millions of fish annually — makes welfare improvements in this sector among the highest-impact opportunities available to animal welfare advocates.

What You Can Do

Choose salmon certified to RSPCA Assured or equivalent high-welfare standards
Reduce salmon consumption and switch to plant-based omega-3 sources such as algae oil supplements
Support Compassion in World Farming campaigns on aquaculture welfare
Advocate for mandatory welfare standards in salmon aquaculture licensing
Support research into sea lice control methods that avoid welfare harm to fish