The final hours of farmed salmon's lives involve crowding, pumping, transport, and slaughter - a period with significant welfare implications that has received increasing scientific and regulatory attention.
Pre-slaughter welfare for farmed salmon represents one of the most actionable areas for improving fish welfare globally, given the hundreds of millions of salmon slaughtered annually. The evidence that salmon experience pain and distress is now sufficiently strong that their experiences during slaughter matter morally. A salmon slaughtered with a precise percussive stun followed by immediate cutting of gill arches suffers for far less time and with less intensity than one asphyxiated in ice slurry over 15-20 minutes. Consumer and retailer demand for humane slaughter standards is driving meaningful industry change in some markets, particularly in Norway and the UK, demonstrating that welfare progress is achievable.