Atlantic salmon farming is one of the world's largest aquaculture sectors, producing over 2.5 million tonnes annually. Welfare challenges in salmon farming are significant and increasingly recognized by both industry and regulators.
Farmed salmon welfare has become one of the most scientifically and commercially scrutinized areas of aquaculture welfare. The scale — billions of individual fish — makes aggregate welfare outcomes enormously significant even if per-fish improvements are modest. Sea lice are the dominant welfare challenge: infestations cause chronic pain through tissue damage, stress from the lice themselves, and from the increasingly aggressive treatments used to control them (freshwater baths, laser systems, chemical treatments). Net pen crowding causes measurable stress and immunosuppression. End-of-life welfare varies significantly — traditional practices cause prolonged suffering, while percussion or electrical stunning systems can be rapid and effective. The trajectory of salmon welfare science is positive, but implementation lags well behind what is technically achievable.