Atlantic salmon farming is one of aquaculture's most economically significant sectors, but welfare problems from sea lice, injury, and disease cause significant suffering in billions of fish annually.
Salmon welfare in aquaculture involves chronic and acute welfare challenges at massive scale. Sea lice cause persistent pain through feeding on the fish's skin, mucus, and blood - lesions can be severe, especially around the head. Treatment methods for lice (thermal, chemical, mechanical) themselves cause significant acute stress. Handling during routine husbandry causes demonstrable distress. Fish are crowded beyond densities that allow comfortable social behavior. The cumulative welfare burden across a production cycle is substantial. The growing body of research on fish sentience means the industry is no longer justified in treating welfare as peripheral - it is a central ethical obligation.