Atlantic cod farming is an emerging industry attempting to relieve pressure on wild stocks, but welfare challenges including crowding, cannibalism, and slaughter methods require attention.
Farmed Atlantic cod represent an interesting welfare case: the industry was developed partly as a conservation response to wild stock collapse, but the welfare challenges of farming a wild-caught benthic species in intensive systems are substantial. Cannibalism among juveniles requires constant size grading — a stressful process — while crowding-related pathologies including skin ulceration and cataracts indicate poor welfare outcomes at typical stocking densities. The cod aquaculture industry is small enough that welfare standards can be built into its development from relatively early stages, unlike the far larger salmon and tilapia industries. Investment in cod-specific welfare research and the development of naturalistic bottom habitat systems offer the most promising welfare improvements.