Salmon Welfare Scorecard

Measuring Welfare in Salmon Farming

Welcome to our Salmon Welfare Scorecard—a powerful tool designed to encourage salmon producers to improve their welfare practices through transparent, objective evaluation.

This Scorecard evaluates salmon welfare across the industry, by benchmarking the public policies and reporting of leading producers against 13 key welfare criteria, based on publicly available information. These criteria include stocking density, humane slaughter practices, sea lice management, and mortality rates.

Each welfare parameter is scored independently, with results presented on a 5-tier scale, providing a clear, visual benchmark of welfare standards.

The Salmon Welfare Scorecard not only raises awareness and transparency but also drives investment in higher welfare practices.

By providing an authoritative basis for reporting and rewarding responsible policies, it enables producers—and the retailers they supply—to make measurable improvements in farmed salmon welfare.

Salmon Welfare Scorecard 2024

The 2024 Salmon Welfare Scorecard evaluates the performance of 11 producers - three more than the 2023 Scorecard, including AquaChile, Bakkafrost, Camanchaca, Cermaq, Cooke, Grieg Seafood, Leroy, Mowi, MultiX, Salmar, and Scottish Seafarms. With these additions, the Scorecard now represents nearly 63% of global salmon production.

The latest Scorecard shows that 62% of producers assessed have improved their reporting and policies on salmon welfare compared to last year, with improvements seen across all parameters.  However, there is still significant room for further progress in transparency, reporting and policy development.

Key Findings

• Genetics has been the most improved parameter between 2023 and 2024, with seven out of 11 producers achieving the highest scores. Among the most notable improvers are Bakkafrost and Camanchaca. However, the remaining producers scored significantly lower, largely due to insufficient reporting. This lack of clarity raises concerns about the potential endorsement of controversial practices such as cloning, genetic engineering or the use of triploids in their policies.
• Humane Slaughter is the best communicated welfare parameter across the industry, with improved transparency on the methods used for the humane slaughter of salmon. This progress highlights how engagement through the Scorecard has successfully driven greater openness on this critical issue.
• There is a general trend of poor reporting on Stocking Density, Transport and Transfer, Enclosure and Sea lice. These are all important welfare issues and it is essential that producers are transparent about their policies and practices in these areas.

Producers Must Act to Improve Salmon Welfare

The Salmon Welfare Scorecard promotes greater transparency for consumers and investors, pinpointing areas where the industry must invest and take action to address critical welfare challenges.

While some progress has been made, the industry still falls short in adopting transparent reporting and implementing effective solutions for issues like high stocking densities, high mortality rates, and barren environments.

The Scorecard serves as a roadmap for improvement, urging producers to prioritise welfare-focused policies and be proactive and clear in their progress reporting.

Looking ahead

Compassion plans to release the next iteration of the Scorecard in late 2026, making it a biannual report. This extended timeline will allow us to build on our engagement with the industry, provide producers with time to respond to the findings and implement new policies, and ensure the tool continues to evolve, remaining both current and challenging.

Learn more

To learn more about the Salmon Welfare Scorecard and how to improve your salmon welfare policy, please contact us, and explore our fish welfare resources.

Salmon Welfare Scorecard 2023

The 2023 Scorecard evaluated the performance of eight salmon producers (AquaChile, Bakkafrost, Cermaq, Cooke, Grieg Seafood, Leroy, Mowi, Salmar), which together represent more than 50% of worldwide salmon production.