Understanding how farmed salmonids sense and respond to their environment is key to securing animal welfare and efficient production. However, hearing has rarely received attention, despite the omnipresence of underwater sound and its potential effects. We describe how and what salmonids hear, and explore how hearing may differ between wild and farmed conspecifics. We then conduct two systematic reviews, to: (1) understand the...

Aquaculture creates ‘aquatic foods’ such as fish, shellfish, and seaweeds that are critical for food security. Gene editing using CRISPR‐Cas9 has the potential to transform aquaculture by improving animal welfare, nutritional attributes, and farming efficiency, with benefits for environmental sustainability. However, gene editing also poses risks of harm via side effects on other important traits or genetic introgression into...

Disease and parasitism cause major welfare, environmental and economic concerns for global aquaculture. In this review, we examine the status and potential of technologies that exploit genetic variation in host resistance to tackle this problem. We argue that there is an urgent need to improve understanding of the genetic mechanisms involved, leading to the development of tools that can be applied to boost host resistance and...

Surface‐based cages are the dominant production technology for the marine finfish aquaculture industry. However, issues such as extreme weather events, poor environmental conditions, interactions with parasites, and conflicts with other coastal users are problematic for surface‐based aquaculture. Submerged cages may reduce many of these problems and commercial interest in their use has increased. However, a broad synthesis of...

Ectoparasitic salmon lice ( Lepeophtheirus salmonis ) present a major challenge to Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) aquaculture. The demand for effective louse control has produced diverse management strategies. These strategies essentially impose novel selection pressures on parasite populations, driving the evolution of resistance. Here we assess the potential for salmon lice to adapt to current prevention and control methods...

A variety of tagging techniques are now available to monitor fish behaviour, physiology and their environmental experience. Tagging is frequently used in aquaculture research to monitor free‐swimming individuals within farmed populations. However, for information gathered from tagged fish to be representative of farmed populations, tagging must not fundamentally affect fish behaviour, physiology or survival. Here, we systemati...

An understanding of behaviour is used in zoos, laboratories and agriculture to reduce stressful aspects of the captive environment for animals. While fish are one of the most cultivated of all vertebrate groups, incorporating their behaviour into production management has proved elusive. Here, we evaluate the current evidence base relating to use of (i) innate behaviours of fish and (ii) their ability to learn new behaviours v...

The Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry still struggles with ectoparasitic sea lice despite decades of research and development invested into louse removal methods. In contrast, methods to prevent infestations before they occur have received relatively little research effort, yet may offer key benefits over treatment‐focused methods. Here, we summarise the range of potential and existing preventative methods, conduct a meta‐a...

The global expansion of aquaculture has raised concerns about its environmental impacts, including effects on wildlife. Aquaculture farms are thought to repel some species and function as either attractive population sinks (‘ecological traps’) or population sources for others. We conducted a systematic review and meta‐analysis of empirical studies documenting interactions between aquaculture operations and vertebrate wildlife....

With the expansion of Atlantic salmon aquaculture, the economic and ecological impacts of salmon lice ( Lepeophtheirus salmonis ) has increased. Norway battles this problematic parasite with various control and preventative methods within farms. We analysed two national‐level databases to examine the number of operations reported each year from 2012 to 2017 and salmon mortality rates attributable to each operation type. From 2...

Host behaviour can prevent infection and moderate the fitness of parasites. Antiparasite behaviours are prevalent in many host–parasite systems and occur over fine or broad scales. With global growth in aquaculture production and the associated proliferation of parasites in farming systems, the behaviour of the fish being farmed has seldom been investigated in relation to parasites. Epidemics and outbreaks of parasites are pre...

Farmed fish that escape and mix with wild fish populations can have significant ecological and genetic consequences. To reduce the number of escaped fish in the wild, recapture is often attempted. Here, we review the behaviours of escapees post‐escape, and how recapture success varies with escaped fish size, the size of the initial escape event and recapture methods. Success rates of fishing gears varied among species, with gi...

Based on the fact that farmed fish experience different environments, stocking densities and feeding regimes compared with wild fish, several techniques have been developed to discriminate the wild or farmed origin of fish. These techniques quantify differences between genetics, chemical characteristics, fatty acid compositions, trace elements, pollutants, stable isotopes, morphology and organoleptic characteristics. Gilthead...