The final hours before slaughter are among the most stressful in a farmed salmon's life. Improvements to crowding, transport and stunning at slaughter can significantly reduce end-of-life suffering.
The slaughter of farmed salmon is one of the most significant welfare improvements available in aquaculture today. Traditional methods involving crowding, CO2 narcosis and live chilling cause substantial suffering during the final hours of the fish's life. The shift to percussive stunning - a blow to the head that immediately renders the fish unconscious - followed by gill-cutting represents a clear welfare improvement that is commercially achievable. Norway's leadership in requiring stunning before salmon slaughter has demonstrated that the industry can adapt. The UK's weaker regulatory position means that welfare-conscious consumers need to look for certification that explicitly requires pre-slaughter stunning.