Projects - Introduction
Current research in fish welfare
Fish welfare is an increasingly important issue for fish farmers. Research funded by Defra is currently working with the trout industry to develop ways to monitor welfare and ensure legislation is based on information from real farms. Previous research investigated the effects of stocking density on trout welfare and found that stocking density alone is not necessarily an accurate predictor of welfare i.e. low stocking density does not guarantee good welfare and higher densities do not necessarily infringe welfare.
In order to gather further data, Cefas Weymouth Laboratory and the Universities of Stirling and Bristol are carrying out two projects. These projects examining fin erosion and water quality in farmed rainbow trout aim to :
- Develop a system to allow trout welfare to be audited
- Define acceptable levels for water quality parameters
- Identify the factors that contribute to fin erosion on UK trout farms
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 aquaculturists will need to demontrate to retailers and others that they safeguard the welfare of fish in their care.
Ultimately the aim is to develop strategies for reducing fin erosion, and move towards a system of welfare monitoring based on assessment of the fish and water quality measurements.
For more details regarding these projects go to the project links on the left