Aquaculture Welfare

Farmed Salmon Disease Challenge Welfare

Disease challenges including HSMI, CMS, and IHN cause significant welfare compromise in farmed salmon - prevention and welfare-sensitive management are essential.

Key Facts

Heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) is caused by piscine reovirus and causes cardiac damage
Cardiomyopathy syndrome (CMS) causes sudden cardiac death especially in large pre-harvest fish
Vaccination provides protection against several significant salmon diseases
3Rs principles applied to fish challenge testing reduce experimental welfare costs
Disease surveillance programmes enable rapid response to new outbreaks

Welfare Considerations

Cardiac and muscular diseases cause pain and functional compromise in farmed salmon. Prevention through vaccination and biosecurity is preferable to treatment, while welfare-sensitive management during disease events minimises suffering.

What You Can Do

Support salmon certification schemes that require disease management planning
Advocate for the application of 3Rs principles to salmon disease research
Choose salmon from farms with published disease event and treatment records