Crowding is one of the most pervasive welfare challenges in salmon aquaculture, affecting millions of fish through chronic stress and disease susceptibility.
Crowding in salmon aquaculture is primarily an economic and logistical issue that has profound welfare consequences. Maximising biomass per cage is financially rational under current incentive structures, but the welfare costs — chronic stress, immunosuppression, disease vulnerability, and injury — are borne by billions of fish. Certification schemes that set meaningful density limits represent one tool, but without enforcement and consumer demand, they remain insufficient. Innovations in cage design, feeding technology, and environmental monitoring are beginning to make lower-density, higher-welfare farming more economically viable.