The final hours of a farmed salmon's life involve handling, crowding, and killing methods whose welfare impacts are increasingly scrutinized as fish sentience evidence accumulates.
The moments before slaughter represent a concentrated welfare event for farmed salmon. Crowding causes physical injury from scale loss and oxygen deprivation as fish compete for gill ventilation. The stunning method used determines whether fish experience the killing process consciously - carbon dioxide stunning causes visible distress responses before insensibility, suggesting it does not provide adequate welfare. Live chilling practices may mean fish remain conscious while experiencing cold-induced incapacitation rather than true insensibility. The convergence of welfare concerns with meat quality improvements (pre-slaughter stress hormones causing inferior flesh) creates an economic incentive for improving slaughter welfare that some producers are beginning to act on.