Pre-slaughter crowding and handling cause significant stress and welfare harm in farmed salmon. Improved protocols reduce suffering in the final hours of the animals' lives.
The pre-slaughter period is a welfare-critical window for farmed salmon that is frequently handled poorly. Crowding to near-immobility, exposure to air, and rough handling in the hours before slaughter cause intense physiological stress - elevated cortisol, muscle damage, scale loss, and fear responses. A fish that has lived for two years deserves a death free from prolonged suffering. Best practice slaughter systems minimize crowding duration, use anesthesia or rapid percussion stunning before any handling, and follow protocols validated by welfare science.