Commercial fishing for wild salmon raises welfare questions around catch methods, handling, bycatch of non-target species, and the welfare of discarded fish. Evidence-based improvements can reduce these welfare harms.
Wild-caught salmon welfare has received far less attention than farmed salmon welfare, despite the billions of wild salmon caught annually and growing evidence of fish sentience. The welfare harms of commercial fishing include the stress of capture and confinement, physical injury from nets and hooks, prolonged struggle before death, and the welfare of bycatch species including non-target fish, marine mammals, and seabirds. Improving wild salmon welfare requires consideration of both catch method (hook-and-line methods have better welfare profiles than gillnets) and post-capture handling. Prompt killing after capture through percussive stunning or bleeding dramatically reduces welfare harm compared to allowing fish to suffocate or die from carbon dioxide. The wild fishery sector has been slower to adopt welfare standards than aquaculture, partly because welfare assessment of fish at scale in wild fisheries is technically challenging.