Welfare impacts of common trout diseases in aquaculture and management approaches that reduce disease-related suffering.
Trout disease welfare management involves balancing treatment necessity against the additional stress of handling and treatment procedures. Disease outbreaks that cause mass mortality represent welfare emergencies at scale, obliging intervention despite treatment welfare costs. Prevention through vaccination, water temperature management, and density controls reduces disease incidence more sustainably than reactive treatment. Climate warming is increasing water temperatures in some trout farming regions, elevating disease pressure and making temperature management an increasingly important welfare tool.