Wild Atlantic and Pacific salmon experience significant suffering from natural predation, parasites, and spawning physiology, compounded by human-caused stressors including fishing, habitat modification, and aquaculture impacts.
Wild salmon welfare involves a complex mix of natural and anthropogenic suffering. The semelparous death of Pacific salmon after spawning is a natural process, but the suffering involved in spawning migration is real and includes significant energy depletion, predator exposure, and physiological deterioration. Human impacts add substantially to this baseline suffering. Sea lice from aquaculture infest wild smolts at life stages when they have minimal resistance, causing early mortality in wild populations. Catch-and-release fishing, though less damaging than retention, causes acute stress that affects recovery for hours. River barriers force behavioural responses including repeated attempts to pass obstacles that are energetically costly and physiologically stressful. Addressing the anthropogenic welfare costs of wild salmon, including sea lice management near migration routes and fishway provision at barriers, represents the most tractable intervention available.