The debate has spilled onto the front pages of mainstream Norwegian newspapers and engaged the industry on a visceral level like few others in recent years.
The issue hinges on legislation that mandates salmon slaughterhouses update their techniques for anesthetizing -- or stunning -- fish before killing them.
In the past most companies have used carbon dioxide (CO2) to paralyze salmon before killing them, a practice widely decried by animal welfare activists.
As part of the new laws companies were supposed to have embraced new anesthesia techniques -- such as electrical or pulse stunning -- by June 1, 2008.
But
