Salmon Sea Lice Biological Control Welfare

Biological sea lice control using cleaner fish raises welfare questions about both the cleaner fish and the treatment process.

Key Facts

Wrasse and lumpfish are used as biological lice control, supplementing chemical and mechanical treatments
Wrasse are wild-caught from UK and Norwegian waters creating sustainability and welfare concerns
Cleaner fish mortality rates in Norwegian salmon cages average 50-70% annually
Behavioural synchrony between salmon and cleaner fish declines over cage tenure reducing lice control effectiveness
Research into selective breeding of captive wrasse for improved welfare and lice removal efficacy is ongoing

Welfare Considerations

Biological lice control places small, relatively fragile cleaner fish into challenging sea cage environments with high mortality rates. The sentience of wrasse is now recognised under UK law following the decapod and cephalopod sentience review. Welfare standards proportionate to their sentience status are urgently needed across the biological lice control industry.

What You Can Do

Support Aquaculture Stewardship Council wrasse and lumpfish welfare standards development
Choose salmon certified under schemes monitoring cleaner fish welfare outcomes
Advocate for wild wrasse capture to be replaced by welfare-certified captive-reared fish
Follow NASCO and SINTEF research on cleaner fish welfare improvements