Pre-slaughter handling of farmed Atlantic salmon causes significant welfare concern due to crowding, out-of-water exposure, and slaughter methods. Evidence-based improvements are advancing the industry's welfare standards.
Pre-slaughter welfare in salmon aquaculture is an area of rapid scientific and regulatory change driven by accumulating evidence of salmon sentience and suffering. The scale - billions of salmon slaughtered annually globally - makes this one of the highest-impact welfare improvement areas in animal agriculture. The transition from live chilling to electrical stunning represents a significant welfare advance when properly implemented, but industry adoption is inconsistent. Key welfare bottlenecks include crowding stress during harvest (unavoidable but manageable), the choice of stunning method, and the interval between stunning and killing. Research on salmon pain perception and stress responses has strengthened the scientific case for investment in humane slaughter infrastructure, even in an industry that historically did not prioritize fish welfare.