PROPOSAL FOR A GILTHEAD SEABREAM CERTIFICATION SCHEME

Introduction

There is a trend towards increased concern for the welfare of animals under human care, and this concern has expanded to include the welfare of farmed fish. However, at present, the necessary operational welfare indicators (OWI) and implementation protocols required to monitor and safeguard the welfare of farmed fish are lacking. Operational Welfare Indicators (OWI) in aquaculture are measures that can be used to assess welfare status in individual animals or groups of animals, made practical and operational on commercial aquaculture facilities (Martins et al. 2012).

The objective of this procedure was to develop a scheme to certify the welfare of Gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) and to perform a pilot run to verify its feasibility.

Methodology
The approach taken is based on the five freedoms in an attempt to follow a methodology already developed to certify farmed terrestrial animals including mammals and birds. This methodology was selected for two reasons; firstly, it has been developed over the years by experts in the field of animal welfare from all over Europe and it has been validated for different farmed animal species, secondly it can be easily applied in a farmed fish welfare certification scheme.

To garantee animal welfare, different principles need to be covered. These principles include  good feeding, good housing, good health, and appropriate behaviour  and must be valid throughout the animal’s entire life (Veissier and Evans 2007).

Butterworth et al. (2009) conducted a literature review and identified a set of 12 welfare criteria (11 in the case of seabream). These criteria were then grouped under the four principles mentioned above. The welfare criteria must be applicable to all farmed species (in our case all farmed fish) and they should be grouped under the four wider principles.
Measures to assess these criteria corresponded to 21 potential OWIs. Each OWI was then plotted on a small chart and a final calculation method was proposed for each OWI, then given specific weight to get a criterion and finally a principle punctuation. All 4 principles are assumed the same specific weight (0.25) in the final calculation (Figure 1).

Results

A test run was performed using 2 tanks with 180g -200 g seabream to verify the feasibility of the scheme. In general, the pilot testing went well, although some parameters have to be reviewed. The list of OWIs to be reviewed include novel object test for a group of fish and swimming behaviour. Score analysis is undergoing.

References

Butterworth et al. 2009- Welfare quality assessment for poultry (broilers, laying hens). Pp111.

Martins et al 2012- Fish Physiol Biochem 38, 17–41

Veissier and Evans 2007- Proceedings of the Second Welfare Quality R Stakeholder Conference, pp. 33–36.

Welfare Quality 2009- Welfare quality assessment for poultry (broilers, laying hens). Welfare Quality Consortium, Lelystad, Netherlands.