Selective breeding of Atlantic salmon for aquaculture has produced fish with genetic profiles that affect their welfare responses and needs in farm settings.
Salmon genetic management for aquaculture represents a powerful lever for welfare improvement that has been underutilized. Selective breeding programs that include welfare traits - disease resistance, stress resilience, bone quality - can reduce welfare-compromising conditions at population level rather than requiring individual intervention. The parallel challenge is ensuring that selection for production traits doesn't inadvertently worsen welfare - some growth-selected strains show increased metabolic disease. Welfare-conscious genetics programs that explicitly include welfare outcomes alongside production traits represent one of the highest-impact long-term welfare interventions for farmed salmon.