Disease outbreaks remain a major welfare challenge in salmon farming, causing mass mortality and chronic suffering in surviving fish. Prevention, early detection, and welfare-conscious treatment are the key management priorities.
Disease outbreaks cause enormous welfare suffering through mass mortality events and chronic disease in surviving fish. Each outbreak represents thousands to millions of fish experiencing pain, reduced mobility, and physiological distress. Prevention through vaccination, biosecurity, and fallowing is far more effective than treatment and dramatically reduces welfare costs at the farm level.