Disease management in aquaculture represents one of the most complex welfare challenges in fish farming. Understanding the welfare implications of disease and treatment is essential.
Aquaculture disease management involves difficult welfare trade-offs. Untreated disease causes significant suffering and mortality. But treatments themselves - particularly handling-intensive freshwater or mechanical delousing of salmon - cause acute stress. Vaccination represents the ideal welfare outcome: disease prevention without repeated stressful treatments. The challenge is that effective vaccines do not yet exist for all major aquaculture diseases, and even where vaccines exist, they do not provide complete protection. Investment in disease prevention through biosecurity, genetic resistance, and vaccine development is both the most welfare-positive and often the most economically rational approach.