Atlantic salmon harvest involves multiple welfare-compromising steps from crowding through stunning to slaughter. Understanding best practice at harvest helps consumers and producers improve this critical welfare endpoint.
Salmon harvest welfare has received more regulatory and industry attention than most farmed fish species due to Norway's progressive aquaculture welfare legislation and the commercial importance of salmon as a premium seafood. The welfare improvements available at harvest are substantial - the difference between a salmon experiencing percussive stunning followed by immediate bleeding and one placed in CO2 water represents enormous differences in the degree of suffering during the final minutes of life. Consumer and retailer demand for humanely harvested salmon is growing and is the primary commercial driver of welfare improvement in this area. The welfare science strongly supports mechanical stunning over CO2 or other methods that cause distress before unconsciousness.