Refining approaches to measuring, monitoring and appraising animal welfare in aquaculture research is key to (i) protecting and optimizing it, (ii) documenting the severity of how and when it deviates, and (iii) ensuring good scientific quality, reliable results and reproducibility, amongst other factors. However, different fish species and life stages can have varying welfare needs and assessing their welfare can be challengi...

Injuries from lice treatments are ranked as a major cause of mortality and poor welfare for Atlantic salmon in marine net pens. As a result, scoring schemes based on the external appearance of injuries and severity are now frequently used. One such recently developed scheme for farmed salmon is the LAKSVEL protocol, inspired by previous schemes such as the SWIM models and the FISHWELL scoring system. Here we review the injury‐...

Periods of fasting occur for a multitude of reasons in Atlantic salmon aquaculture. Feed withdrawal is widely used prior to transport, parasite treatments, preslaughter and for depuration purposes in recirculating aquaculture systems. Voluntary fasting is a coping response when fish have poor health or are exposed to poor farm environments. Owing to increased attention to animal welfare in aquaculture, concerns have been raise...