Pre-slaughter handling of farmed salmon including crowding, starving, and transport causes significant welfare harm before fish even reach the kill point.
Pre-slaughter welfare for farmed salmon is a phase of production that receives less attention than either farming conditions or slaughter method — yet it represents a welfare-critical period where significant suffering can occur or be prevented. The starving period, while operationally necessary, imposes real discomfort on fish whose hunger is genuine. Crowding stress during the pre-slaughter holding period causes measurable physiological responses. And handling during transfer causes physical injury at a moment when the fish have no opportunity to recover. Improving pre-slaughter welfare requires treating this phase as seriously as any other production period — with welfare assessment, low-stress handling protocols, and minimum space standards during holding.