Welfare considerations in the final hours of farmed salmon life, from crowding for harvest through slaughter methods.
Pre-slaughter welfare in salmon farming represents one of the highest-impact welfare interventions available in aquaculture, both in terms of the number of individuals affected and the severity of suffering preventable through better practice. Traditional slaughter methods involving ice slurry asphyxiation cause salmon to remain conscious while experiencing the equivalent of suffocation for minutes before losing consciousness — a significant welfare failure that affects hundreds of millions of fish annually. The economic case for welfare improvement at slaughter is also strong: pre-slaughter crowding stress and poor slaughter methods cause quality defects including blood spots, texture changes, and reduced shelf life. Percussive and electrical stunning with immediate killing represents a practical, commercially viable welfare improvement that can be implemented without prohibitive cost, making it among the most actionable welfare improvements available in aquaculture.