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UK: Becoming conscious about fish conscience
In this age of aquaculture the question of fish welfare finds increasing limelight in both the public and political domains. During the race of global aquaculture industries, fish welfare needs have been left behind. However, in the last decade the welfare of fish has become a high-priority issue on political grounds. In 1997, the treaty of Amsterdam agreed that throughout the EU the concept of welfare is the same in fish as it is in mammals and birds and necessary protection should be applied. More recently, the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) announced its plan to harmonise standards throughout its 172 member countries.
Following a request from the European Commission the Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW) panel was asked to deliver a Scientific Opinion on welfare aspects of husbandry systems for farmed fish. The opinion tried to identify their capacity to experience pain, fear and distress, whilst taking into account expressions of sentience.
While for a long time it was believed that fish did not possess complex emotions, new research has highlighted dynamic social functions and environmental responses, whilst issues of fish stress and disease has been forced into the limelight due to the damaging repercussions they can have on the industry. “As for all animals it is impossible to find one single measurement or welfare indicator that will cover all possible husbandry systems, farmed species and situations,” says the AHAW Scientific Opinion. “A range of welfare indicators should be considered when welfare is being evaluated.”
Fish in a natural habitat display complex swimming, feeding, anti-predator and reproductive behaviours that are often lacking in fish farms. Fish farmers themselves have witnessed how prolonged exposure to stressors can lead to maladaptive effects or chronic stress. Chronic stress responses that can indicate poor welfare conditions include reduction in immune function, disease resistance, growth and reproduction and even result in death. Fin condition and parasite load are clear and comparable indications that are often associated with poor welfare.
However, indicators of condition do not necessarily show whether a fish is undergoing real feelings of pain, but while some scientists say that fish lack a biological capacity to experience the world in the same way that we do, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that biological responses are much more similar than previously believed. According to the AHAW Scientific Opinion, there is scientific evidence to support the assumption that some fish species have brain structures potentially capable of experiencing pain and fear.
In the context of welfare of farmed fish the physiological, biochemical and behavioural reactions of fish are considered to be part of the experience of pain, fear and distress – and whilst the extent to which feelings of pleasure exist in fish is unknown – the hormone oxytocin, associated with pleasure in humans and other mammals – occurs in fish.
It seems that we may never truly know how complex the emotional life of a fish may be – but the same may be said of terrestrial animals and even the people whom we feel the closest to. |
Adopted and shortened by gk,
full article at the Fish Site,
Adam Anson, March 2009
http://tinyurl.com/dgw44h |
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Die Entwicklung tierversuchsfreier Verfahren in der Forschung hat sich in den letzten Jahren stets weiterentwickelt. Um diesen Forschungszweig zu unterstützen, haben wir eine neue Internet-Plattform entwickelt:
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