The period immediately before slaughter is a high-stress welfare risk for farmed salmon. Understanding best practice pre-slaughter management reduces suffering significantly.
Pre-slaughter handling is a critical welfare period for farmed salmon. The crowding, pumping, and transfer processes that concentrate fish for slaughter cause significant acute stress. Water quality deteriorates rapidly at high densities, reducing oxygen and increasing carbon dioxide. Best practice minimises the duration of crowding, uses gentle pumping systems, maintains water quality during crowding, and applies pre-slaughter stunning immediately before exsanguination. The link between pre-slaughter stress and product quality — through stress-related glycolysis that reduces fillet quality — provides a commercial incentive for welfare improvement that has driven industry adoption of better pre-slaughter handling practices. Consumer demand for welfare-certified fish creates additional market incentive.