Atlantic salmon undergo profound physiological changes during spawning, and post-spawning fish face significant welfare challenges. Conservation efforts that consider salmon welfare improve both fish outcomes and population recovery.
Wild salmon welfare is an area where conservation biology and welfare ethics increasingly converge. Spawning is one of the most physiologically demanding experiences in vertebrate biology - salmon literally re-engineer their bodies for reproduction, and the depletion that follows leaves them vulnerable to a range of welfare insults. River management that supports good spawning conditions - clean water, adequate flow, appropriate temperatures, accessible spawning gravel - is simultaneously conservation and welfare practice. The catch-and-release angling case illustrates how welfare considerations can diverge from conservation goals: angling of early-run fish may be more sustainable than targeting kelts, but welfare concerns about handling exhausted fish need to be part of fisheries management guidance.