Atlantic salmon in open sea cage aquaculture face welfare challenges including sea lice, crowding, handling stress, and net entanglement that vary significantly by farm management quality and regulatory standards.
Atlantic salmon welfare in sea cages spans a wide quality range from poorly managed farms with high lice burdens and inadequate conditions to certified operations with documented welfare monitoring. The distinction between these is not trivial — a salmon in a high-welfare certified farm has measurably lower parasite burden, fewer injuries, and better behavioral indicators than one in an uncertified operation. Consumer certification preference is one of the most direct market mechanisms for improving farmed salmon welfare.