Fish welfare is a major issue outside Canada. Within Canada it is gaining momentum and AquaNet is in a good position to lead the way in scientific research. There are many aspects to fish welfare, such as: how do you define it; why is it an issue; why should we care; how do we assess it; and how will addressing it benefit the sector (i.e., social and economic aspects). The goal of this workshop is to formulate a research question(s) that can be utilized to develop a Call for Proposals for future AquaNet research.

Presentations

The presentations provided a range of topics on fish welfare from attempting to define "welfare", to measuring potential parameters of welfare (e.g., pain, stress, feed intake, health, and behavioral patterns), to comparing wild and farmed fish welfare. As well, perspectives on welfare were gathered from Canadian scientists, international scientists, and aquaculture producers. It was evident from all the presentations that there are a number of questions pertaining to fish welfare that need answering, but some of the common questions that were being raised were: "What is welfare?"; "What are the best parameters to measure welfare?" Is fish welfare an issue, and if so, who considers it an issue?". For more information on the presentation titles and presenters, please refer to ANNEX A.

Discussions

The overarching goal for the sector is to have practical welfare indicators developed for the industry to use to self-regulate. For these indicators (e.g., physical, biochemical, behavioral, or all/others) to be most useful for the industry, they need to have the most simplified measuring process whereby the measure is still valid. In addition, these indicators should be available to 3rd party auditors to audit farms. However, in order to develop welfare indicators, the sector needs to be clear on the definition of "welfare". In addition, welfare may have many different meanings depending on who is talking (i.e., consumers, fish, producers, and community groups - e.g., First Nations). Thus, it is important to identify the major audience (with a rational) to which the sector needs to address fish welfare.

The involvement of industry (and/or the sector) in the process of understanding welfare issues will depend somewhat on the future requirements to prove high standards of fish welfare. This is not to say that current practices do not satisfy fish welfare standards, but rather fish welfare standards are unknown; thus, there is a knowledge gap on what activities support an acceptable level of fish welfare in aquaculture operations. Currently in North America, fish welfare is not a major issue, but the industry capacity to react to another crisis is low. It may be advantageous for the sector to be proactive in fish welfare, by addressing knowledge gaps and identifying aquaculture practices that support acceptable fish welfare standards. A useful start would be to understand the experiences faced in other jurisdictions where fish welfare is an issue for the sector (e.g., the EU), and how they are addressing the issue. Furthermore, it would be advantageous for the industry to support research into fish welfare since the research results likely will lead to improved production operations (e.g., reduced stress, improved growth, and improved product quality).

It highly is likely that fish welfare will become increasingly more prominent as a concern for consumers in the North American market. Once this awareness heightens, it will be the retailer that will be demanding that producers' activities meet consumers expectations pertaining to fish welfare. Currently, Canadian grocers are requesting producers to demonstrate how their activities maintain animal welfare. Hence, confronting retailers through a proactive approach (e.g., outreach) likely will benefit the aquaculture sector by convincing retailers early on that their activities maximize fish welfare.

During discussions at the workshop, participants identified various issues that affect fish welfare on aquaculture farms, including:

As well, participants suggested key performance indicators of fish welfare, including:

Any research that is initiated within the area of fish welfare must integrate a socio-economic perspective since it is important to identify the key audience of the research results, as well as how current perspectives will be affected by new knowledge on fish welfare. As a first step it may be useful to determine consumer perceptions of fish welfare in the context of food production, then decide whether the aquaculture sector already can address these perceptions, and if not, what additional information is required to address them adequately. One potential problem with this approach is that it may cause a heightened awareness of welfare for consumers, and thus expedite welfare as a major issue with which the sector needs to address. However, there may be a market advantage to having set standards for meeting welfare, which likely will benefit the industry over other sectors that do not meet these standards.