The behavior of fish in net pen aquaculture provides welfare information about social dynamics, crowding stress, and environmental quality that can guide management interventions.
Fish behavior in net pens is a welfare barometer that skilled aquaculturists can learn to read but that is increasingly being monitored by automated systems. The challenge with fish welfare is scale - a typical salmon net pen contains 50,000-100,000 animals, making individual assessment impossible. Behavioral monitoring approaches that assess group-level indicators including schooling pattern, surface activity, and feeding response provide welfare information at the scale aquaculture requires.