About - Introduction
Welcome to fishwelfare.net. This website is dedicated to research into fish welfare and aims to serve as a respository and reference point for relevant information relating to the various fish welfare related reasearch initiatives. In addition to providing general information about fish welfare the site aims to increase awareness of fish welfare research projects and emerging fish welfare concerns. The site will also act as a means of rapid dissemination of research findings and improve access to other project outputs such as peer-reviewed publications.
Why the sudden interest in fish welfare? In recent years the welfare of all farm animals, including fish, has become a high profile issue and there is increasing pressure on the regulatory authorities to legislate on fish welfare. The need to base legislation on sound data has been identified by the UK Farm Animal Welfare Council and recently the European Parliament's Committee on Fisheries. The fish farming industry has corroborated the need for scientific data on which to base regulation and is supportive of research addressing this need.
Much of the current interest and research in fish welfare is related to aquaculture and this website therefore focuses on the welfare of farmed fish. However, there are many ways in which human activities can affect the welfare of fish and as more information becomes available we may expand the site to incorporate other issues for example with regard to ornamental fish.
Without research of this type legislators will not have the farm-based information necessary for developing workable legislation. It is also highly probable that in the future farmers will need to demonstrate to retailers and others that they are safeguarding the welfare of fish in their care. Some of the on-going projects detailed in this site aim to make significant contributions to practical welfare monitoring and auditing systems.