Farmed Atlantic Salmon: A Life Not Worth Living
Atlantic salmon are migratory animals, with ranges of over 9,000 km. Their confinement in farms is incompatible with their natural drive to swim and cover vast distances.
WILTON MUI: While the sentience of fishes is unfortunately still debated among the general public, the welfare of farmed fishes represents a particularly important issue for animal advocates who want to make a positive impact in the lives of millions of animals… Salmon are the most farmed fish in Europe and are among the most expensive in the world – their economic value amounts to 18.1% of global fish trade value, yet they make up only 2.8% of global aquaculture…
As outlined by the Farm Animal Welfare Council, the criteria for a farmed animal to enjoy a ‘life worth living’ are: Freedom from hunger and thirst; Freedom from environmental challenge; Freedom from disease and injury; Freedom from behavioral restriction; and Freedom from mental distress. Atlantic salmon farms may meet the first criteria, but the report details how farming operations do not satisfy the remaining requirements for a ‘life worth living’.
Of special note is the failure to satisfy the fourth requirement, freedom from behavioral restriction, which Compassion in World Farming highlights as the main reason to deem Atlantic salmon ‘fundamentally unsuitable for farming’. Potentially related to this restriction, we’ve covered a study that suggests farmed salmon are depressed from chronic stress in the farm environment.
Farmed Atlantic salmon face myriad welfare concerns leading up to and at slaughter. The process of rounding up salmon for transportation and slaughter is called net-penning… Fish can be starved for up to a month before slaughter… Atlantic salmon are migratory animals, with ranges of over 9,000 km. Thus, their confinement in farms is incompatible with their natural drive to swim and cover vast distances…
Not only that, Atlantic salmon are solitary animals and naturally would not encounter many other Atlantic salmon during most of their adult life. However, in Atlantic salmon farms, they are stocked in open-net sea cages at densities of 10-25 kg/m3. Both low and high stocking densities on Atlantic salmon farms present negative welfare outcomes…
For animal advocates, the report paints a comprehensive picture of the overall welfare of farmed Atlantic salmon, and the picture is quite grim… the farming of wildlife is something to be challenged in and of itself; for advocates working to improve conditions in the meantime, FWIs report, and the many other studies cited here, provide a roadmap forward. SOURCE…
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