Emerging research on environmental enrichment for farmed Atlantic salmon is identifying interventions that improve welfare outcomes in commercial net pen and recirculating aquaculture systems.
Research on salmon enrichment is still early-stage but increasingly demonstrates that providing structural and environmental complexity reduces behavioural indicators of poor welfare in farmed fish. Stereotypic swimming patterns analogous to mammalian stereotypies are common in barren net pen environments and represent frustrated behavioural motivation. The challenge for the aquaculture industry is translating welfare-positive enrichment concepts from research tanks into cost-effective commercial-scale applications. Growing consumer and regulatory pressure for fish welfare standards is accelerating investment in this research area, with the expectation that welfare improvements demonstrating neutral or positive productivity effects will achieve faster commercial adoption.