Farmed Salmon Lumpfish Welfare as Cleaner Fish

Lumpfish are used as cleaner fish in salmon farms to reduce sea lice without chemicals. Their welfare needs are poorly understood and often poorly met in commercial farm settings.

Key Facts

Lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) are placed in salmon cages to consume sea lice
Each salmon cage may contain hundreds to thousands of lumpfish at any time
Lumpfish have a complex social structure and territorial behaviour in the wild
They suffer high mortality rates in salmon farms - often 50-90% per production cycle
Lumpfish require shelter structures - without them they suffer repeated salmon aggression
They are difficult to feed adequately in farm settings - malnutrition is common
The welfare of lumpfish has received very little scientific attention compared to salmon

Welfare Considerations

Lumpfish welfare represents a significant blind spot in salmon aquaculture welfare discourse. These fish are placed in environments that are fundamentally alien to their biology - open water salmon cages with no shelter, inadequate nutrition, and exposure to salmon aggression they cannot escape. High mortality rates indicate that the current system fails lumpfish welfare systematically. The irony is that lumpfish are used to improve salmon welfare (by reducing sea lice) while their own welfare is severely compromised. Providing shelter objects, adequate supplementary feeding, and reducing lumpfish stocking density are practical welfare improvements that can be implemented now.

What You Can Do

Support salmon producers who publicly address lumpfish welfare alongside salmon welfare
Advocate for welfare standards for cleaner fish to be included in aquaculture certification
Support research into lumpfish welfare requirements and hatchery improvement
Choose salmon from producers investing in non-biological lice control alternatives
Contact certification bodies to request cleaner fish welfare standards be included in their scope