Individuality really matters for fish welfare
Publication Type: |
Journal Article |
Authors: |
Caroline MarquesMaia |
Publication/Journal: |
Veterinary Quarterly |
Publisher: |
Taylor & Francis |
Keywords: |
animal welfare, fish, fish welfare, individuality |
ISBN: |
0165-2176 |
Abstract:
Animal welfare science started to gain ground in the 1960s (Duncan 2006), especially after the publication of the famous book Animal Machines in 1964 by Ruth Harrison. this book exposed several farm practices that were causing suffering for terrestrial farmed animals, which later basically culminated in the official publication of the famous five freedoms in 1979 by the Farm Animal Welfare Council. Since then, the animal welfare concept has evolved over the years. Nowadays, there is a tremendous amount of data and literature on many different issues relating to animal welfare, including the idea that not only avoiding negative aspects are important, but also adding positive stimuli in the environment to improve the captive conditions of animals is import-ant (Mellor and Beausoleil 2015). in the process of animal welfare development through the years, con- have reached many other domains involving human-animal interactions and relationships, like lab-oratories, zoos, domestic environments, labor, and conditions related to human leisure, thus reaching fishes. Over the years, quite some progress has been made on the issue of considering, understanding, and measuring fish welfare in many different species, which is clearly indicated by a raising number of books covering a wide range of related topics (e.g. Branson 2008, Kiessling et al. 2012; Arechavala-López and Saraiva 2019; Kristiansen et al. 2020; Studer 2020). Furthermore, there are already important projects on assessing the welfare conditions in farmed fishes, such as the fair-fish database or the English version of the FiShWeLL Atlantic salmon welfare handbook (Noble et al. 2018). Models for welfare assessment of fishes have been proposed (e.g. Pettersen et al. 2014) and fish welfare guidelines or reports are also becoming more common (e.g. Saraiva et al. 2021; Arechavala-López 2022; Saraiva 2022).despite that, fishes are still commonly neglected animals in practical terms of welfare. this fact is even more relevant when it is taken into account that such aquatic animals are present in farms, laboratories, fisheries, public aquariums, home aquariums and recreational fishing. in this scenario, it is also worth mentioning that, compared to other animals involved in relationships with humans, there is a countless number of fish species that is used by humans in one way or another. Furthermore, it is important to consider that some of these species are more domesticated than others, each one with its own natural behavioural needs and preferences, which also depends on the life stage of the species.