Atlantic cod aquaculture faces persistent welfare challenges from disease susceptibility, crowding stress, and the behavioral needs of a complex predatory species adapted to dynamic wild environments.
Atlantic cod are not passive fish adapted to dense aggregations; they are predatory animals with active space use patterns and social dynamics that make intensive aquaculture particularly challenging from a welfare perspective. The history of cod aquaculture development has been one of repeated disease crises and high mortality that represent severe welfare failures. Current research on welfare-compatible production systems must grapple with whether intensive cod farming can be made genuinely welfare-positive or whether the species is fundamentally unsuited to high-density production.