The period immediately before salmon slaughter involves crowding, pump transfer, and stunning procedures that create significant welfare risks requiring industry-wide improvement.
Pre-slaughter welfare is the final and most acute welfare challenge in the salmon production chain. Salmon experiencing crowding stress, oxygen depletion during pump transfer, and inadequate or failed stunning suffer in their final minutes in ways that are entirely preventable. The technology for humane salmon slaughter exists — percussive or electrical stunning systems that render fish immediately unconscious before killing are commercially available and increasingly standard in high-welfare operations. The barriers to adoption are cost and the pace of regulatory requirements in different jurisdictions. Consumer demand for welfare-certified salmon with verified slaughter standards, alongside regulatory requirements for salmon welfare throughout the production cycle, are the most effective levers for improving pre-slaughter welfare across the industry.