Fish Welfare for Slaughtering for Fish Quality

  1. What is fish welfare and slaugther?
  1. Why fish welfare is important in slaughtering?
  1. What happened when a fish is slaughtered or harvested badly?
  1. What is the relationship between fish quality and fish welfare?
  1. What important rule of slaughter to improve fish walfare?
  1. Fish welfare-suffering indicators
  1. The common slaughter methods?

Slaughter

Welfare

animals are killed for food.

To ensure animals have a good quality of life life and are not treated in ways that cause suffering.

Good welfare means an animal is “fit and happy”.

Fish need adequate welfare in culture even more than when they are in the wild.

This is because they are held in captivity against their will.

The welfare of farmed fish should start from production to consumption

rapid on set of rigor mortis

The quality of meat become lower.

Give significant effect on profitability

good welfare means good production.

o To avoid severe stress conditions to the animal.

o Influence the expression of quality.

To maintain the best original quality, fish would be stunned until death and killed without any avoidable stress.

induce rapid loss of consciousness and death in fish

create minimal amount of pain and distress

Brain function indicator

Haematic indicator

Behavioural indicator

Tissue indicator

Gill movement

Swimming motility

Capability to maintain equilibrium
(e.g. : turn upside down, movement of eyes, reaction to the needle puncture on head or tail)

Increase heart-beat

Increase oxygen uptake

Increase palsma glucose (plasma lactate) - easiest method to detect

Rigor mortis (rate of fish freshness)

Muscular Ph, ATP and its catabolites

Some fish killed and processed individually but some killed and processed collectively.

it depend on species, desired product quality, and market demand.

Examples

electrical stunning

blunt force trauma

spiking

gun shot

anesthesia

rapid chilling