Farmed rainbow trout are produced in large numbers globally. Welfare standards for trout farming are developing rapidly as fish sentience becomes better understood.
Trout welfare is a rapidly evolving area as fish sentience science advances. Rainbow trout show complex behaviours including learned predator avoidance, social hierarchies, and individual variation in behaviour. In farming contexts, the welfare priorities are density management (high density increases aggression injuries and cortisol levels), disease prevention (trout infections cause welfare harms at scale), and humane slaughter. The shift from ice slurry killing - which causes a prolonged, stressful death - to electrical stunning followed by percussion is achievable and increasingly expected by welfare-conscious buyers. Consumer demand for welfare-certified trout creates market incentives for farms to invest in higher welfare methods.