Salmon slaughter welfare is one of the most inadequate aspects of commercial aquaculture, with billions of fish killed annually using methods of widely varying humaneness.
Salmon slaughter welfare is an area where commercial practice lags welfare science by a significant margin. The number of salmon killed annually in aquaculture — in the billions globally — means that even small improvements in slaughter method have enormous aggregate welfare impact. The technology for humane salmon slaughter exists and is commercially deployed by some producers. The barrier to wider adoption is primarily economic inertia rather than technological feasibility. Consumer and regulatory pressure to adopt electrical stunning as a minimum standard is the most direct welfare improvement available.