Acronym OWA
Category
Aquaculture
Title Overall Welfare Assessment of Atlantic salmon 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 Tore S Kristiansen Coordinator email torek@imr.no
Coordinator institution
IMR - Institute of Marine Research (Norway)
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2010 End year 2013 Funding (€) € 670,765 Website https://prosjektbanken.forskningsradet.no/project/FORISS/199728?Kilde=FORISS&distribution=Ar&chart=bar&calcType=funding&Sprak=no&sortBy=date&sortOrder=desc&resultCount=30&offset=120&Departement=Fiskeri-+og+kystdepartementet Summary In Norway farmed fish are protected by the same welfare legislations as land animals. However, since there are no established methods to assess or document fish welfare, it is impossible to know how to comply with these regulations or control or enforce them. To address this need, we will construct an integrating model and tool for overall welfare assessment of farmed Atlantic salmon. To make it a science based and formalized method, we will use semantic modelling methodology, where welfare is defined as the quality of life as perceived by the animals themselves. Within this paradigm, both positive and negative aspect of welfare are considered, with the basis in basic needs and welfare indicators linked to scientific statements. The Salmon Welfare Index Model (SWIM) will be developed for three levels of assessment (farmer, veterinary, scientist), and tested and validated in controlled laboratory experiments, as well as on a number of farm sites. The project will also develop and evaluate two visual indicators of chronic welfare impairment, the eumelanin spot index, and the skin and fin integrity index. In controlled studies we will create conditions of both acute stress and chronic exposure to sub-optimal rearing environments (aggression and fluctuation of pCO2). The studies will be performed with salmon held under commercially relevant rearing densities, and on cannulated individual fish. In addition to registering welfare indicators in the SWIM model, we will sample fish for analysis of brain serotonin biochemistry and expression of genes involved in neural plasticity and hypothalamus-pituitary-axis feedback. By using cannulated fish in the experimental situation it will be possible both to relate the CNS based indicators to already established physio logical stress indicators as well as to relate them to stress patterns over time. The correlation between various indicators will also be tested in field samples from a number of commercial farms.
Keywords
Fish;
Salmon;
Animal welfare;
Marine Region
30
Porcupine Bank (27.VIIc)
18
West of Gotland (27.IIId.27)
31
Southwest of Ireland-East (27.VIIj)
39
North of Azores (27.XIIa, 27.XIIb, 27.XIIc)
12
Bay of Biscay North (27.VIIIa)
29
West of Ireland (27.VIIb)
24
Sound, Belt Sea or Transition Area (27.IIIb,c)
9
Western English Channel (27.VIIe)
11
Celtic Sea South (27.VIIh)
25
Faroes Grounds (27.Vb)
32
Southwest of Ireland-West (27.VIIk)
5
Southern North Sea (27.IVc)
21
Southern Central Baltic-East (27.IIId.26)
44
Spitzbergen and Bear Island (27.IIb)
6
Central North Sea (27.IVb)
28
Rockall (27.VIb)
13
Northern North Sea (27.IVa)
10
Celtic Sea North (27.VIIg)
23
Baltic West of Bornholm (27.IIId.24)
27
Bothnian Bay (27.IIId.31)
7
Irish Sea (27.VIIa)
36
Iceland Grounds (27.Va)
15
Bay of Biscay Central (27.VIIIb)
37
Southeast Greenland (27.XIVb)
38
Portuguese Waters (27.IXa,27.IXb)
16
East of Gotland or Gulf of Riga (27.IIId.28)
8
Bristol Channel (27.VIIf)
33
Bay of Biscay Southern (27.VIIIc)
42
Barents Sea (27.I)
14
Skagerrak, Kattegat (27.IIIa)
35
West of Bay of Biscay (27.VIIIe)
43
Northeast Greenland (27.XIVa)
17
Bothnian Sea (27.IIId.30)
26
Northwest Coast of Scotland and North Ireland (27.VIa)
19
Gulf of Finland (27.IIId.32)
40
Azores Grounds (27.Xa, 27.Xb)
20
Archipelago Sea (27.IIId. 29)
34
Bay of Biscay offshore (27.VIIId)
41
Norwegian Sea (27.IIa)
4
Eastern English Channel (27.VIId)
22
Southern Central Baltic-West (27.IIId.25)
41
Marine Region Map
