Striped bass and hybrid striped bass are important farmed fish in the United States, with welfare considerations around crowding stress, disease, and water quality that require attention as production grows.
Striped bass in culture show clear behavioural responses to stressors including crowding, handling, and poor water quality. They are energetic fish requiring adequate dissolved oxygen and space to perform normal schooling behaviour. Disease outbreaks, particularly during summer when water temperatures are high, cause mortality and suffering at scale. As US aquaculture expands and diversifies species, developing welfare standards ahead of production scaling is the responsible approach that the salmon industry failed to take.