Growing awareness of cleaner fish welfare problems is driving research into both improved husbandry and mechanical alternatives that could eliminate the need for biological sea lice control.
The welfare case for developing cleaner fish alternatives is compelling - deploying sentient fish in conditions optimized for a different species creates an ethical problem that grows with scale. Mechanical sea lice control technologies that are effective enough to replace biological control would eliminate this welfare issue entirely. In the interim, improved cleaner fish husbandry including species-appropriate housing conditions, feed, shelter, and monitoring represents the minimum welfare standard. Research investment in alternatives directly reduces the welfare burden that current biological control practices impose.