Atlantic cod aquaculture has been proposed as an alternative to overfished wild stocks, but farming cod presents significant welfare challenges that need evidence-based solutions.
Farmed cod experience welfare challenges that differ from salmon but are no less significant. Aggression and cannibalism require size-grading that is itself stressful. Hypoxia events cause acute suffering before mortality. Poor water quality management causes chronic gill damage affecting respiration. The evidence that cod have pain receptors and respond behaviorally to noxious stimuli means their welfare during disease, injury, and slaughter is a genuine concern. Cod slaughter practices are often less carefully considered than for salmon, with many facilities using methods that may cause prolonged pre-death suffering. As cod aquaculture develops, building welfare standards into the industry from the beginning is an opportunity to avoid repeating the welfare failures that occurred in salmon farming.