Fish Welfare in Capture-Based Aquaculture (CBA)

Abstract

Capture-based aquaculture (CBA) combines aquaculture practices with capture fisheries to keep the catch alive for either short or long periods of time, for feeding or for live storage. CBA enables us to market numerous species ranging from molluscs, scallops and crustaceans to fish such as tuna, cod, eel and groupers. In CBA, handling and adaptation to new environments have an additional influence upon the stressors to which fish are exposed during capture, and the duration of this impact increases dramatically from minutes and hours in traditional fishing to days and months in CBA. We show how a strong focus on welfare is already present in cod CBA fisheries and the rationale behind this focus. We present a case study on CBA of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) as a robust example and model species for detecting welfare risks and mitigating against them. We discuss the main welfare issues in relation to the three broad phases of capture, transport and live storage, and identify common current fish welfare challenges in CBA. We highlight the advantages of pursuing this approach using lessons learnt from an industry in which fisheries and aquaculture meet and where an existing and successful knowledge transfer process between fisheries and aquaculture is already under way.