Atlantic salmon slaughter is one of the highest-volume animal welfare events globally. The methods used — crowding, out-of-water exposure, and stunning — determine whether hundreds of millions of fish die with minimal suffering or prolonged distress.
Salmon slaughter welfare is one of the clearest examples of how regulatory requirements can produce immediate, large-scale welfare improvements. The welfare case for percussive stunning before bleeding is well-established — it produces instantaneous loss of consciousness and eliminates the prolonged suffering of traditional ice-slurry methods. Implementation requires investment in stunning equipment and training, but produces welfare improvements for hundreds of millions of individual animals annually. Pre-slaughter handling quality is equally important — crowding during harvest concentration, pump transfer, and holding tanks all cause acute stress that persists into the slaughter process. Welfare-positive salmon slaughter integrates improved pre-slaughter handling with effective stunning to minimise total suffering.