CAP's new protocol is billed as the first assessment framework of its kind.
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The Centre for Aquaculture Progress (CAP) has launched a new welfare monitoring protocol designed to help farmers and auditors assess the condition of rainbow trout raised in seawater.
The new protocol sets out 33 indicators that can be used during routine welfare checks. These range from visible signs of injury or poor condition in individual fish to mortality, behaviour and environmental factors such as dissolved oxygen and water temperature.
Each indicator is scored on a four-level scale from 0 to 3, with practical guidance and reference images intended to make assessments more consistent between different users.
CAP said the protocol is aimed at farm personnel carrying out routine welfare monitoring, as well as certification bodies, auditors and seafood buyers. It has also been designed to align with welfare assessment requirements used by certification schemes including RSPCA Assured and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.
The organisation describes the protocol as the first assessment framework of its kind for ongrowing rainbow trout in seawater to combine a broad range of welfare indicators with standardised scoring thresholds.
Existing welfare guidance for rainbow trout is already available, including resources developed by Nofima and APROMAR. CAP said its new protocol is intended to provide a more detailed and consistent framework for deciding what should be measured and how different welfare conditions should be scored.
Marco Cerqueira of CCMAR at the University of Algarve, who worked with CAP on the development of the protocol.
“Standards for farmed trout already exist, but the welfare requirements in them vary a lot in depth and in how well they can be assessed on a farm. What we tried to do here was to be more specific: state what should be measured, how, and what counts as acceptable, so that either an auditor or a farm manager are looking at the same thing,” explained Marco Cerqueira of CCMAR at the University of Algarve, who worked with CAP on the development of the protocol.
CAP said Jonatan Nilsson and Angelico Madaro of Norway's Institute of Marine Research also reviewed and contributed to the framework, and the organisation also received feedback from representatives of certification bodies, academia, NGOs and producers.
Of the 33 indicators, 14 are assessed on individual fish, five at group level and 14 relate to the surrounding environment.
CAP notes that farms may not necessarily assess every indicator during every welfare check. Monitoring frequency and the indicators used can depend on site conditions, regulatory or certification requirements and practical considerations.
The Rainbow Trout Operational Welfare Indicator (OWI) Protocol: Ongrowing, Seawater is available free of charge through CAP's OWI Protocol Hub as both an interactive online tool and a downloadable PDF.
Announcing the launch, CAP said this is the first in a planned series, with further protocols being developed for freshwater rainbow trout, gilthead sea bream and European sea bass.