Aquaculture

Farmed Salmon Welfare Benchmarking: Comparing Farms and Systems

Welfare benchmarking across salmon farms enables identification of best practices and drivers of welfare improvement at industry scale.

Key Facts

Norway's salmon welfare index compares farms on operational welfare indicators
Benchmarking creates competitive incentives for welfare improvement in commercial systems
Key indicators include lice burden, mortality rate, deformity prevalence, and wound scores
Consumer-facing welfare certification based on farm benchmarking enables informed purchasing

Welfare Considerations

Without comparison, farms cannot identify where they fall short or learn from peers with better welfare outcomes. Industry-wide benchmarking creates accountability and improvement incentives. Transparent publication of welfare data enables consumer choice and industry-wide learning.

What You Can Do

Support aquaculture welfare certification schemes using benchmarked performance standards
Advocate for mandatory transparent welfare reporting in salmon aquaculture regulation
Choose salmon from farms that publicly share welfare benchmarking data