Aquatic Environment and Fish Welfare in Aquaculture

Abstract

Aquaculture is the fastest growing food producing sector worldwide. Stress is of central concern mainly in intensive production systems of aquaculture, as the various stressors which accompany operational techniques and fish husbandry can induce compromised growth and poor fish health. During the last decade, the issue of farmed fish welfare has raised increasing public and scientific concern. Stress responses have been linked to systemic adjustments which negatively impact the immune system, growth and the reproductive performance of fish. There is a number of indices that can be used to assess fish responses to stress. Two of the most common stress indicators are cortisol and glucose. Transcriptome analysis has been a key area of fish research for the last few years, with rapid development of massive parallel sequencing and maturation of analytical tools. Whole genome or transcriptome analyses have become a realistic option for screening nonmodel organisms.