Wild-caught salmon slaughter welfare depends on the fishing method and time from catch to death, with methods ranging from instantaneous to prolonged consciousness before death.
Wild salmon slaughter welfare highlights the stark contrast between the best and worst available practices. Ike jime — precise brain destruction causing immediate insensibility — achieves the most humane death possible for individual fish and simultaneously improves flesh quality through reduced pre-mortem stress hormones. Gillnet drowning — the least humane common method — involves prolonged distress over hours in an entangled, oxygen-deprived state. The extraordinary range between these practices means that fishing method selection has profound welfare implications. The welfare case for promoting ike jime and percussive stunning in wild salmon fisheries is supported by both welfare evidence and quality incentives, creating market alignment for welfare-positive practice adoption.