PRINCIPLES OF FISH WELFARE ASSESSMENT IN FARMREARING CONDITIONS

For several decades fish welfare has been subject of manyresearches, and the interest for this subject is connected with the fact that fish canfeel pain and suffering. In addition to this stressors’ mechanisms of action and theirconsequences are similar in mammals and fish. Assessment of welfare for farmedfish is based on the same principles as for terrestrial farm animals. However,special methods of collecting data are needed due to morphological characteristicsof fish and properties of their environment. In the world and in our country,researches of different ways of fish welfare assessment are being conducted,especially based on non-invasive techniques such as monitoring of behaviour. Inthis paper a review of basic principles and methods used in assessment of farmedfish welfare is given.