Animal Welfare · Aquaculture Cooperative Extension -

Animal welfare is an important component of sustainability within an animal-based food system. However, appropriate fish welfare for fish farming is not well established and there are many opportunities to improve animal welfare within aquaculture. The diversity of species is a significant challenge, with over 20 different species of fish farmed in California alone! All of these species have different social, biological, and nutritional needs. While our lab is interested in the entirety of aquatic animal welfare at all life history stages of farmed aquatic animals, our lab is particularly focused on welfare practices around harvest and slaughter practices for large finfish. Additionally, we are constantly working with farmers throughout California and the rest of the US to improve the husbandry and welfare of the animals under their care.

We are currently involved in a number of projects evaluating the benefits of increasing fish welfare during slaughter on meat quality in sturgeon and salmonids. Slaughter technologies include percussive stunning and electrical stunning. This is a collaborative project with UC Davis (Drs. Crystal Yang and Jackson Gross) and Dr. Bob McGorrin at Oregon State University and also includes post harvest handling around filleting, aging, freezing and packaging. This research was funded in 2021 by the USDA Western Regional Aquaculture Center. This research is still ongoing.

Many techniques used to create insensibility or brain death in during humane slaughter in finfish do not accomplish their goal due to fish biology, size, and anatomy. This is especially true for white sturgeon which are cartilaginous fish and the largest freshwater fish in North America. In 2024 we published the first paper (publication link) discussing percussion stunning towards achieving humane slaughter in white sturgeon. We are continuing to refine this work in sturgeon and other farmed fish in California and in the Western US. Results from humane slaughter research are actively extended via regular technical transfer and continued trainings to producers of sturgeon, salmon, trout from commercial farms and fish hatcheries from natural resource agencies.

We are also evaluating the utility of non-invasive ultrasound technology to assess reproductive health in farmed and endangered abalone. Very little research is directed at the animal welfare in invertebrate animals such as giant sea snails such as abalone. This research has been funded since 2020 by the US Navy Commander Pacific Fleet. We have published a number of papers since 2022 evaluating the use of this technology in Red, White, and Black Abalone. We are also interested in understanding how ocean warming directly impacts seaweed nutrition which indirectly influences growth, gametogenesis and reproduction in Pacific abalone.