Species‐specific welfare aspects of the main systems of stunning and killing of farmed fish: Rainbow Trout

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doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2009.1012

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…The second most practiced method was percussion, which is the most used method in France ( 9 ). If correctly done within 10 s from the moment the fish is pulled out of the water, percussion is also considered a humane method for trout ( 16 ). As in other European countries, asphyxia in ice and air were also practiced, although they should be avoided, since they do not induce effective loss of consciousness ( 9 , 12 , 20 , 50 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The assessment of trout unconsciousness was mainly carried out using “breathing” and “coordinated movements” as recommended by WOAH ( 20 ). According to EFSA ( 16 ), however, these indicators are considered acceptable as indicative of unconsciousness but are not really robust or validated in laboratory conditions. As a matter of fact, although some authors have recently stated that loss of respiratory movement could be related to unconsciousness ( 24 ), others found no clear relationship between loss of ventilation and brain failure in rainbow trout under laboratory conditions ( 47 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Farmed fish welfare during slaughter in Italy: survey on stunning and killing methods and indicators of unconsciousness

Clemente,

Tolini,

Boscarino

et al. 2023

Front. Vet. Sci.

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Information on slaughter procedures for farmed fish in aquaculture is limited, both in Europe and in Italy, due to a general lack of field data. The aim of this study was to gather information on the procedures used to slaughter fish in Italy and to discuss them considering the WOAH and EFSA recommendations on fish welfare. Using a questionnaire survey, data were collected by official veterinarians in 64 slaughtering facilities where 20 different species of fish were slaughtered. The main species slaughtered were rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss; 29/64), followed by European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax; 21/64), sea bream (Sparus aurata; 21/64), Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus; 14/64), European eel (Anguilla anguilla; 11/64), sturgeon (Acipenser spp; 11/64), common carp (Cyprinus carpio; 6/64), and brown trout (Salmo trutta fario L.; 5/64). The most applied stunning/killing methods were “asphyxia in ice/thermal shock” and “electric in water bath,” followed by “percussion,” “asphyxia in air,” and “electric dry system.” After the application of the method, the assessment of the fish level of unconsciousness was practiced in 72% of the facilities using more than one indicator, with “breathing” and “coordinated movements” the most practiced. The collected data showed a discrepancy between the available recommendations about the welfare of fish at slaughter and what is practiced in many production sites, but for many species precise recommendations are still not available.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farmed fish welfare during slaughter in Italy: survey on stunning and killing methods and indicators of unconsciousness

Clemente,

Tolini,

Boscarino

et al. 2023

Front. Vet. Sci.

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“…In Europe, recent efforts have been undertaken to address these knowledge gaps. One example is the COST action 'Welfare of fish in European aquaculture', that produced a high number of reports for these species, e.g., [71,73,74,76,77]. Another example is the growing number of papers on welfare of Atlantic salmon [20,54,[91][92][93][94], that highlights the rising importance of welfare for the farming of this species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Humane slaughter is a key feature for the good welfare of farmed fish. However, most farmed species are slaughtered commercially through asphyxia in ice [71], despite the fact that there are presently many solutions that ensure either immediate and painless death or render the fish unconscious through effective stunning [71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78] These solutions, however, are not applied as consistently as expected, which results in a vast majority of aquaculture production being slaughtered in poor conditions that impose excruciating and unnecessary suffering to individuals. In addition, humane slaughtering of fish results in better overall product quality [79].…”

Section: Stunning and Slaughtermentioning

confidence: 99%

A Global Assessment of Welfare in Farmed Fishes: The FishEthoBase

Saraiva¹,

Arechavala-López

Castanheira³

et al. 2019

Fishes

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Fish welfare is an essential issue that needs to be tackled by the aquaculture industry. In order to address it, studies have been limited to a small number of species and the information is generally scattered. In order to have a consistent overview of the welfare of farmed fishes, we present the FishEthoBase, an open-access database that ultimately aims to provide information on the welfare of all fish species currently farmed worldwide. Presently with 41 species, this database is directed to all stakeholders in the field and targets not only to bridge the gaps between them but also to provide scientific information to improve the welfare of fish. The current text explains the database and presents an analysis of the welfare scores of 41 species, suggesting that (i) the general welfare state of farmed fishes is poor, (ii) there is some potential for improvement and (iii) this potential is related to research on species’ needs, but (iv) there are many remaining knowledge gaps and (v) current fish farming technologies do not seem to fully address welfare issues. The existence of a framework, such as the FishEthoBase, is proposed as fundamental to the design of strategies that improve the welfare of farmed fish.

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“…But even less severe feed restriction can have behavioral consequences; the sudden onset of restriction can increase aggression rates and subsequent fin damage severity (127), with these behavioral changes potentially becoming permanent, possibly depending on the life-stage at which feed is restricted [e.g., (128)]. There have been multiple calls for further research on the effect of feed withdrawal of varying lengths on stress physiology, behavior, and welfare (6,110,129). Currently, feeding regimes are often based on water temperature and calculations made using known relationships between body size and metabolic rate [for fish: on a log-log scale, body mass and standard metabolic rate are linearly related, with a slope of 0.8: (130), explained in ( 21)], with the aim of maintaining or increasing body mass.…”

Section: Feed Quality and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research Before Policy: Identifying Gaps in Salmonid Welfare Research That Require Further Study to Inform Evidence-Based Aquaculture Guidelines in Canada

Gaffney

Lavery

2022

Front. Vet. Sci.

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Aquaculture is a growing industry worldwide and Canadian finfish culture is dominated by marine salmonid farming. In part due to increasing public and stakeholder concerns around fish welfare protection, the first-ever Canadian Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farmed Salmonids was recently completed, following the National Farm Animal Care Council's (NFACC) rigorous Code development process. During this process, both the Scientific (responsible for reviewing existing literature and producing a peer-reviewed report that informs the Code) and Code Development (a diverse group of stakeholders including aquaculture producers, fish transporters, aquaculture veterinarians, animal welfare advocates, food retailers, government, and researchers) Committees identified research gaps in tandem, as they worked through the literature on salmonid physiology, health, husbandry, and welfare. When those lists are combined with the results of a public “top-of-mind” survey conducted by NFACC, they reveal several overlapping areas of scientific, stakeholder, and public concern where scientific evidence is currently lacking: (1) biodensity; (2) health monitoring and management, with a focus on sea lice infection prevention and management; (3) feed quality and management, particularly whether feed restriction or deprivation has consequences for welfare; (4) enclosure design, especially focused on environmental enrichment provision and lighting design; and (5) slaughter and euthanasia. For each of these five research areas, we provide a brief overview of current research on the topic and outline the specific research gaps present. The final section of this review identifies future research avenues that will help address these research gaps, including using existing paradigms developed by terrestrial animal welfare researchers, developing novel methods for assessing fish welfare, and the validation of new salmonid welfare indices. We conclude that there is no dearth of relevant research to be done in the realm of farmed salmonid welfare that can support crucial evidence-based fish welfare policy development.

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Species‐specific welfare aspects of the main systems of stunning and killing of farmed fish: Rainbow Trout

Cited by 7 publications

References 46 publications

Farmed fish welfare during slaughter in Italy: survey on stunning and killing methods and indicators of unconsciousness

Farmed fish welfare during slaughter in Italy: survey on stunning and killing methods and indicators of unconsciousness

A Global Assessment of Welfare in Farmed Fishes: The FishEthoBase

Research Before Policy: Identifying Gaps in Salmonid Welfare Research That Require Further Study to Inform Evidence-Based Aquaculture Guidelines in Canada

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