How salmon hatchery programmes balance conservation goals with the welfare needs of fish during artificial production.
Hatchery salmon welfare occupies an unusual space between aquaculture and conservation. The animals are produced in captive conditions but intended for wild release, creating a welfare obligation to prepare them physically and behaviourally for an environment that differs radically from the hatchery. Crowded, featureless tanks produce fish with stress-adapted physiologies that are poorly prepared for the energetic demands of wild survival. Welfare-aligned hatchery practice — lower density, environmental complexity, predator exposure, variable flow regimes — not only improves individual fish welfare but directly improves the conservation outcome by increasing post-release survival. The welfare and conservation goals are therefore tightly aligned in hatchery management.