Acronym Farewell
Category
Aquaculture
Title Welfare of farmed fish from harvest to killing: meeting the future challenge Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Bjorn Roth Coordinator email bjorn.roth@nofima.no
Coordinator institution
NOFIMA - Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (Norway)
Institutions involved
Akvaplan-niva - Akvaplan-niva AS (Norway) ,
UiB - University of Bergen (Norway) ,
Start year 2007 End year 2010 Funding (€) € 966,597 Website https://www.fhf.no/prosjekter/prosjektbasen/542042/ Summary The main objective is to obtain knowledge on how different lairage and stunning methods influence the welfare and quality of farmed fish (salmon, cod and halibut) and seek solutions that will promote the welfare of fish and quality of the product. Physiological and neural responses will be closely evaluated through traditional methods such as thermal shock, live chilling, gas stunning in addition to percussive and electrical stunning in combination with exsanguination. The subsequent effect on immobilization, consciousness, death and quality will be closely monitored. Besides answer commercial questions, the project group aims on bringing foresighted knowledge and technology by: (1) Reveal the potential of using magnetic fields for measuring muscular and neural activity in fish; (2) Reveal the energy saving strategy of teleosts under hypothermal conditions at normoxic, hypoxic and hypercapnic conditions; (3) Reveal the importance of ionic tension caused by glycolysis and breakdown of ATP on the onset of rigor mortis and the following water retention, i.e. drip loss. To reach the main objective 5 subtask will be set. These are: (1) Permanent insensibility: Can euthanasia be achieved through exsanguination or do we need to perform a mechanical, chemical or electrical kill?; (2) Hypothermia: How does hypothermia interact with the welfare either directly or by affecting the respiration functions and/or indirectly by prolonging time until death?; (3) Hypercapnia: How does hypercapnia affect the welfare, directly by release of primary stress responses or indirectly by sedating the animal and thereby preventing welfare problems during further processing; (4) Technology: Develop stunning and killing methods for halibut and improve existing technology for salmon and cod; (5) Quality: Solutions will be sought not only on improve welfare issues, but also on how to reduce production cost and increase the quality and shelf life. The results are expected to clarify what impact various slaughter system will have on the welfare of fish and how can this technology, dependent on species, be used to optimize the process lines i.e. fully automatic systems. We also expect to clarify what temperature drop (oT) and CO2 levels each species are capable to handle before: (1) Release of primary stress responses; (2) Osmotic disturbance; (3) Respiration problems (hypoxia/hypercapnia); (4) Failure to thrive and the following effect on quality. The results will also aid legislative forces to approve methods that promote the welfare and increase the quality thereby improving the yield and prevent negative attention from the public.
Goals:
(1) Determine stunning methods for fish; (2) Understand the effect of stress on quality.
Keywords
Animal welfare;
Halibut;
Food quality;
Engineering;
Salmon;
Feed quality;
Cod;
Flatfish;
Fish;
Marine Region
1
Northern Oceanic (34.2)
1
Marine Region Map
