Welfare science of delousing treatments for farmed Atlantic salmon, covering thermal and mechanical treatment impacts, recovery protocols, and the search for welfare-compatible louse management approaches.
Delousing treatment welfare harm is one of the most significant ongoing welfare issues in salmon aquaculture because it is both severe and repetitive. Unlike many aquaculture welfare concerns that are chronic and low-level, delousing events cause acute welfare harm — thermal shock, physical injury from mechanical treatment, and in worst cases mass mortality. The welfare challenge is compounded by repetition: salmon in production may face multiple delousing events, with cumulative welfare burden that extends across months of production. The industry's welfare imperative is to reduce both the frequency of treatments (through prevention) and the harm of necessary treatments (through protocol optimization and welfare monitoring). Consumer demand for welfare-certified salmon is the commercial incentive for this investment.