Aquaculture Welfare

Farmed Salmon Disease Welfare Advanced

Advanced disease management for farmed salmon integrates vaccination, biosecurity, biological control, and welfare-conscious treatment into comprehensive health programmes that reduce disease welfare burden.

Key Facts

Comprehensive vaccination programmes reduce antibiotic use by over 99% compared to unvaccinated salmon
Fallowing sea cages between production cycles reduces pathogen build-up significantly
Biological lice control using lumpfish reduces chemical treatment frequency
Disease challenge models using 3Rs principles minimise research welfare costs
Integrated management plans combining multiple disease prevention approaches are most effective

Welfare Considerations

Advanced disease management represents one of the most welfare-impactful areas in salmon aquaculture. Comprehensive vaccination, strategic fallowing, and integrated lice management collectively reduce the disease welfare burden through prevention rather than treatment. The welfare of millions of salmon annually depends on the quality of disease management programmes at the farm level.

What You Can Do

Support aquaculture standards requiring comprehensive disease management plans
Advocate for vaccination requirements in salmon welfare certification schemes
Choose salmon from farms with demonstrated comprehensive disease prevention programmes