Welfare and stress in fish

Abstract

Moral philosophy is involved in developing a systematic approach to determine the sense of right and wrong and has been the major subject to define ethic in animal production. Traditionally, from a humancentered perspective, fish are simply objects for human consumption. Welfare is a complex conception of human consciousness about animal suffering. Stress is a consequence of low welfare and causes important changes in animal organisms but also in behavior and life quality. The main aspects of fish welfare approached on this study are: social subordination and stocking density; water quality (temperature and ammonia); transport of live fish; external indicators of welfare; pain perception and fear.