The quality and welfare of salmon smolts before sea transfer determines their resilience and health through the entire sea phase. Pre-sea preparation is foundational to production welfare.
Smolt quality management is a hidden foundation of salmon welfare. A well-developed, timely-transferred, vaccinated smolt enters the sea environment with the physiological resources to cope with its challenges. A compromised smolt enters already stressed, with depleted immune function, at elevated risk of immediate disease. The welfare cost of inadequate smolt quality is paid over the entire sea phase in higher disease burden, slower growth, and greater treatment need. Investment in hatchery welfare - adequate space, appropriate water quality, disease-free smolt production - creates the conditions for better welfare downstream and is inseparable from production quality.