Atlantic salmon farming is the UK and Norway's most economically important aquaculture sector, but faces serious welfare challenges including sea lice infestations, crowding stress and painful treatments.
Atlantic salmon farming has expanded enormously over the past three decades, but welfare standards have not kept pace with production growth. Sea lice represent a chronic welfare problem that is difficult to solve without closed containment systems. Treatments for sea lice — both chemical and mechanical — cause additional suffering. Stocking densities in open net cages create competition and stress. The welfare situation of farmed salmon illustrates how aquaculture expansion has outrun our ability to manage the welfare implications of producing fish at industrial scale.