MOF, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 183: Vidensyntese om de dyrevelfærdsmæssige konsekvenser ved opdræt af fisk under danske forhold, fra ministeren for fødevarer, landbrug og fiskeri

Miljø- og Fødevareudvalget 2024-25
MOF Alm.del Bilag 183
Offentligt

Notat

Til

Vedr.

Fra

Fødevarestyrelsen

Velfærdsmæssige forhold for opdræt af fisk

DTU Aqua

Redegørelse om velfærdsmæssige forhold ved opdræt af

fisk og viden syntese om dyrevelfærdsmæssige forhold for

opdræt af fisk under danske forhold

Description of animal welfare conditions in fish farming

and knowledge synthesis on animal welfare conditions in

fish farming under Danish conditions

This report has been produced following the request made by the Danish Veteri-

nary and Food Administration (Office for Animal Welfare and Veterinary Medicine)

on 15th January 2024.

The knowledge gathered during the preparation of the report, about the legal back-

ground and fish welfare aspects of Danish fish farming, was compiled in an ex-

tended version of the report, added here as an appendix (Bilag 1).

The Danish aquaculture sector is mostly focused on the production of fish, which is

in turn dominated by rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus

mykiss),

constituting 70% of the

total aquaculture production and 88% of the total fish production in 2021. Other fish

species farmed in Denmark include Atlantic salmon, European eel, kingfish/yellow-

tail amberjack, char, pikeperch, brown trout, striped bass, European perch and

sturgeons.

The current regulatory framework in relation to the surveillance, protection and pro-

motion of animal welfare for fish in the aquaculture sector seems underdeveloped

and for example, there is no explicit consideration in Danish law about the

Recom-

mendations concerning farmed fish from the Standing Committee of the European

Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes, adopted by

the Committee on 5 December 2005 (REF).

This regulatory issue is in line with the

current situation at EU level (REF), which has been recognized as a problem in re-

cent years. Now, two new initiatives at EU level, that started activities in 2024, are

expected to elevate the welfare of farmed fish, traditionally neglected, and give it

the same consideration as to other farmed animals. The first one is the creation of

05-07-2024

Journal nr.

MGES/

CVR-nr. DK 30 06 09 46

DTU Aqua

Institut for Akvatiske Ressourcer

Anker Engelunds Vej 101

Bygning 101

2800 Kongens Lyngby

Tel. 45 25 25 25

Dir. 00 00 00 00

[email protected]

www.dtu.dk

MOF, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 183: Vidensyntese om de dyrevelfærdsmæssige konsekvenser ved opdræt af fisk under danske forhold, fra ministeren for fødevarer, landbrug og fiskeri

UDKAST

the EU Reference Centre for Animal Welfare of Aquatic Animals (REF). The sec-

ond one is the EU Partnership on Animal Health and Welfare (EUPAHW) (REF),

which will invest around €360 million over the next seven years to boost research

and facilitate cooperation on Animal Welfare research, including fish, that are con-

sidered at the same level as terrestrial farmed animals.

In Denmark, the current applicable regulations on fish farming have a strong focus

on environmental variables but lack specific focus on the welfare of fish. In this re-

gard, rules in place for the farming conditions provided to the fish are not subject to

specific regulations or guidelines but are rather bound to the general protection

provided to all animals in the Danish Animal Welfare Act.

In lack of specific regulations for the conditions provided to the fish in Danish aqua-

culture, it is still in the best interest of the farmers to optimize the welfare of the

fish, as good welfare conditions are known to positively correlate with growth per-

formance, increasing profitability. However, there seems to be very limited opportu-

nities at the national level for education or training in knowledge and methods to

assess, protect and promote the welfare of farmed fish.

Current accessible information about the conditions provided to the fish in Danish

fish farms, and about the welfare status of the fish is very limited, as there are no

defined protocols for assessment and no surveillance programs for welfare data

collection and reporting. Contrary to other farmed animals, there are no publicly

available reports about the welfare status of farmed fish.

The current general scientific consensus about how to assess fish welfare estab-

lishes the need to consider both input-based indicators (i.e. the conditions provided

to the fish, including water quality, stocking density, lighting conditions, etc.) and

outcome-based indicators (animal-based variables that tell about the actual welfare

status of the fish, including behavior, feed intake, growth, external appearance, in-

juries, stress indicators, etc.). For several of the farmed fish species in Denmark,

current fundamental knowledge on their welfare needs is limited. However, there is

good availability of information about fish welfare needs and welfare assessment

tools for the two main species in Danish fish farming: rainbow trout and Atlantic

salmon (Salmo

salar),

and, to a minor extent, for the third main species, the Euro-

pean eel (Anguilla

Anguilla).

However, while different variables have been sug-

gested as potential welfare indicators (on-farm, during transport or at slaughter) for

certain fish species, those are generally still awaiting further research about their

applicability and their validation on real fish farming scenarios. Data on these varia-

bles is lacking in real farming scenarios, such as the Danish fish farming industry,

which prevents a good overview of the welfare status of farmed fish in Denmark.

This is a critical gap of knowledge, as data on real farming conditions might be

necessary to optimize the use of the indicators and to develop guidelines and set

acceptable thresholds for different welfare-related variables.

One of the limitations about the current knowledge about welfare needs in connec-

tion with particular variables (density, temperature, light conditions, photoperiod,

others), is that it mostly comes from well controlled laboratory-based studies where

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MOF, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 183: Vidensyntese om de dyrevelfærdsmæssige konsekvenser ved opdræt af fisk under danske forhold, fra ministeren for fødevarer, landbrug og fiskeri

UDKAST

those variables are tested while keeping others fixed. However, the combined ef-

fect of the array of variables potentially affecting fish welfare cannot be fully under-

stood from isolated studies in the laboratory. Each single farm provides different

conditions to the fish it hosts, and, in that sense, there is not such a thing as “Dan-

ish conditions” that could be defined

a priori

as representative of the Danish fish

farming sector. Collecting welfare data from different farms/production systems and

building fish welfare datasets would help in detecting strengths, weakness, tem-

poral trends, etc., in order to better understand the welfare of farmed fish and fur-

ther develop legislation about what should and what should not be allowed in con-

nection to fish welfare status (including recommendations for acceptable levels of

welfare indicators on different farming systems) in fish farms.

Conclusions



Data about the welfare status of fish in the Danish fish farming industry is

lacking in connection with both the conditions provided to the fish (input-

based indicators) and the actual welfare status of the fish (outcome-based

indicators).



Educational/training possibilities in connection to fish welfare needs and

fish welfare assessment are very limited in Denmark.

For rainbow trout, Atlantic salmon, and to a minor extent European eel,

there are potential indicators and protocols available to assess their wel-

fare, but those are still not being used/implemented in Denmark. There is a

need for research on the feasibility/practicality of those tools in the Danish

fish farming sector, so optimized methods can start to be used to fill the

knowledge gap about the welfare status of the fish under farming.

The complexity and diversity of conditions provided to the fish in different

farms and production systems is difficult to simulate in controlled research

scenarios. For this reason:

It is at present difficult to develop new regulations setting specific

limits for welfare-related variables or indicators, particularly for in-

put-based indicators. This because current scientific knowledge on

welfare needs and welfare indicators is not large enough to predict

the effects of the complex interactions of different conditions that

can be present in particular farms.

The collection of welfare data in real farm scenarios, and the gen-

eration of large datasets combining both input- and outcome-

based welfare indicators would be critical to fully understand the

fish welfare needs in each case and consequently, the needs for

potential regulatory control on specific variables/indicators.



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