Welfare Regulations
International Fish Welfare Regulations
There are several recognised codes and standards promoting welfare in aquaculture and wild fisheries. The most prominent are the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the RSPCA welfare standard. These codes give information on welfare requirements for husbandry practices, environmental quality, feeding, health management, grading, vaccination, transport, slaughter/killing and crowding. In all cases, the standards are based on scientific, veterinary and practical industry expertise. The welfare of other aquatic animals such as wild fish and crustacea are also covered in other more specific codes.
You can explore the various welfare regulations and codes in the following links:
RSPCA
RSPCA standards provide comprehensive species-specific welfare requirements for husbandry practices, feeding, health management, grading, vaccination, transport, slaughter/killing and crowding. The standards are based on scientific, veterinary and practical industry expertise.
World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)
A code giving some general guiding principles on fish welfare and lists of requirements for minimising any possible negative welfare effects of transport, stunning and killing.
Global G.A.P
GLOBAL G.A.P. aquaculture standard provides checklists for ensuring measures for maintaining fish welfare are in place. The focus of the standard is mainly staff training, record keeping and equipment/farming suitability. Most major salmon farming companies have GLOBALG.A.P. certification.
Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification
ASC is a result of numerous roundtable discussions involving a wide range of stakeholders including aquaculturists, scientists, NGOs, retailers, and governmental bodies. The current standard is primarily aimed at limiting environmental impacts from aquaculture operations, but also has criteria related to fish welfare.
Norwegian Food Safety Authority
Government supervisory body for food safety. Promotes plant, fish, animal and human health.
Slaughter of Wild Fish and Crustaceans
New Zealand Government
The purpose of this Code is to provide information to the owners and persons in charge of animals involved in commercial slaughter about the standards they must achieve in order to meet their obligations under the Animal Welfare Act 1999.
Fish Count
A website designed to increase understanding of fish sentience, raise awareness and promote solutions to the suffering of fishes in commercial fishing. It also aims to increase awareness of the welfare issues in fish farming.