The final phase of salmon production before slaughter involves crowding and handling that cause significant welfare harm - reducing pre-slaughter stress is both a welfare and product quality priority.
Salmon pre-slaughter welfare represents one of the clearest intersections of welfare and economic interests in aquaculture. Crowding-induced stress causes measurable product quality deterioration alongside welfare harm - providing a business case for welfare improvement that complements the ethical case. Research demonstrates that minimising crowding duration, reducing handling and ensuring rapid, effective stunning directly improve both welfare outcomes and product quality. Industry adoption of high-welfare slaughter systems including automated electrical stunning is growing but not universal. Consumer and retailer pressure for welfare-assured salmon processing is driving faster adoption.