Prospective severity classification of scientific procedures in cephalopods: Report of a COST FA1301 Working Group survey

Abstract

Cephalopods are the first invertebrate class regulated by the European Union (EU) under Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, which requires prospective assessment of severity of procedures. To assist the scientific community in establishing severity classification for cephalopods, we undertook a web-based survey of the EU cephalopod research community as represented by the participants in the European COoperation on Science and Technology (COST) Action FA1301, Cephs InAction'. The survey consisted of 50 scenarios covering a range of procedures involving several cephalopod species at different life stages. Respondents (59 people from 15 countries) either allocated a severity classification to each scenario or indicated that they were unable to decide (UTD). Analyses evaluated score distributions and clustering. Overall, the UTD scores were low (7.0 ± 0.6%) and did not affect the severity classification. Procedures involving paralarvae and killing methods (not specified in Annexe IV) had the highest UTD scores. Consensus on non-recovery procedures was reached consistently, although occasionally non-recovery appeared to be confused with killing methods. Scenarios describing procedures above the lower threshold for regulation, including those describing behavioural studies, were also identified and allocated throughout the full range of severity classifications. Severity classification for scenarios based on different species (e.g. cuttlefish vs. octopus) was consistent, comparable and dependent on potentially more harmful interventions. We found no marked or statistically significant differences in the overall scoring of scenarios between the demographic subgroups (age, sex, PhD and cephalopod experience). The COST Action FA1301 survey data provide a basis for a prospective severity classification for cephalopods to serve as guide for researchers, project assessors and regulators.

Short and Long-Term Effects of Anesthesia in Octopus maya (Cephalopoda, Octopodidae) Juveniles

“…In addition, it is legally required to assign the prospective severity classification of scientific procedures on live animals, as well as reporting the actual severity experienced by each animal used during the course of such procedures. To assist and guide cephalopod scientists in assessing severity classification of procedures using live cephalopods for research purposes, Cooke et al (2019a) evaluated 50 scenarios covering different types of procedures. From these scenarios, 12 included the use (or lack) of anesthesia for different purposes, such as handling for growth rate comparisons, hemolymph sampling, surgery, among others.…”

E Pluribus Octo – Building Consensus on Standards of Care and Experimentation in Cephalopod Research; a Historical Outlook

“…The COST Action FA1301 was largely based on this ground: the use of scientific evidence in drafting guidance documents (Fiorito et al, 2015;Cooke et al, 2019), as well as in the development of tools and methods for adequate assessment of Cephalopod Welfare 12 .…”

“…The question of experimental procedures (sensu definition provided in the Directive 2010/63/EU) is somewhat more complicated than that of maintenance, and negotiation will most likely be on the agenda for some time. A preliminary scrutiny, stemming from COST Action FA1301, resulted in (i) a list of possible "experimental procedures" to be considered regulated by Directive 2010/63/EU (Fiorito et al, 2014), (ii) the list of possible routes for administration of substances (see Table 9 in Fiorito et al, 2015), (iii) examples to consider for attributing prospective severity to procedures to be utilized with cephalopods (Cooke et al, 2019), and in (iv) a list of indicators of health and welfare in cephalopods (see Table 5 in Fiorito et al, 2015) 15 . It is to remind that the COST Action FA1301 contributed for the first time to these guidance documents.…”

Control of Zootechnology Leads to Improved Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis, L.) Reproduction Performance up to Pre-industrial Levels

“…On the other hand, considering a retrospective severity analysis (Smith D. et al, 2018), the nonnatural mortality observed during the growth stage raises issues related to the welfare of cuttlefish in this kind of studies. Thus, despite Directive 2010/63/EU provide exemption for studies carried out for veterinary and zootechnical purposes, we believe that the cephalopod community should consider prospective severity assessment analysis to be carried out in all instances (Smith D. et al, 2018;Cooke et al, 2019) and the application of the PREPARE guidelines (Smith A.J. et al, 2018).…”