Aquaculture

Farmed Salmon Wellbeing Indicators

Developing operational welfare indicators for farmed salmon allows welfare to be monitored continuously and compared between farms and over time.

Key Facts

Operational welfare indicators (OWIs) for salmon include crowding response, opercular beat rate, and wound scores
Eye abnormalities and body condition are used as welfare outcome measures
Gill health scoring provides welfare data at sea cage level
Cataract prevalence reflects nutritional and management quality
Standardised OWI protocols allow industry-level welfare benchmarking

Welfare Considerations

Salmon welfare monitoring without standardised indicators is subjective and inconsistent. Validated OWIs allow welfare to be quantified, tracked, and compared across farms and certification schemes. The development and adoption of comprehensive OWI protocols for salmon is one of the most important current welfare science priorities for aquaculture.

What You Can Do

Support adoption of standardised welfare indicators in salmon certification
Advocate for welfare outcome monitoring as a regulatory requirement
Choose salmon from producers using validated welfare indicator monitoring