Atlantic cod aquaculture is expanding as wild stocks recover from historic overexploitation. The welfare needs of farmed cod, including appropriate diet, density, and social conditions, require specific attention.
Farmed cod welfare shares some characteristics with other predatory marine fish, including aggression-related injury at high densities, but also has species-specific requirements related to temperature, diet, and social management. The development of cod aquaculture is relatively recent, meaning species-specific welfare knowledge is still accumulating. Applying welfare principles developed for salmon and trout requires caution, as cod behaviour and physiology differ in important ways. Early investment in cod-specific welfare research as the industry expands would prevent the welfare problems that emerged in salmon farming from repeating in this developing sector.