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Knowledge of, and Attitudes towards, Live Fish Transport among Aquaculture Industry Stakeholders in China: A Qualitative Study

SIMPLE SUMMARY: China is the world’s largest producer of food fish, and Chinese consumers have a preference to buy live fish. Live transport of fish is, therefore, a common procedure in aquaculture and is a potential animal welfare hazard. Little has been published on current fish transportation pra...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Yang, Yifei, Wang, Tingyun, Phillips, Clive J. C., Shao, Qingjun, Narayan, Edward, Descovich, Kris
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8466337/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34573646
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11092678
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author Yang, Yifei
Wang, Tingyun
Phillips, Clive J. C.
Shao, Qingjun
Narayan, Edward
Descovich, Kris
author_facet Yang, Yifei
Wang, Tingyun
Phillips, Clive J. C.
Shao, Qingjun
Narayan, Edward
Descovich, Kris
author_sort Yang, Yifei
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: China is the world’s largest producer of food fish, and Chinese consumers have a preference to buy live fish. Live transport of fish is, therefore, a common procedure in aquaculture and is a potential animal welfare hazard. Little has been published on current fish transportation practices in China or the knowledge and attitudes of stakeholders in this industry. Our qualitative study aimed to obtain original information about live transport processes from a cross-section of aquaculture stakeholders in China by conducting individual interviews. Stakeholders were interviewed about their knowledge of live transport and their attitudes towards the welfare of fish. Self-described knowledge of live transport varied between participants with different job types. Most participants had heard of and understood the concept of “animal welfare”, but many understood it to only refer to terrestrial livestock, not fish. This suggests that knowledge of fish welfare in the industry may be less than for other farm animals. The findings of this pilot study contribute to a better understanding of live fish transport from a stakeholder point of view. The findings will also assist in informing, educating, and sensitizing stakeholders to the importance of fish welfare during live transport. ABSTRACT: China is the largest food fish producer in the world. Chinese consumers normally purchase fish that are still alive to ensure freshness. Therefore, the live transport of fish is important in China’s aquaculture, although it carries potential risks for animal welfare. This study investigated the attitudes and knowledge of stakeholders within Chinese aquaculture towards the live transport and welfare of fish. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 participants who were involved with the aquaculture industry in China. Most participants self-rated their transport-related knowledge as moderate and had some understanding of animal welfare, although this term was generally considered only relevant to terrestrial animals. Participants’ responses indicated that the live transport of fish occurs frequently in China, generally using sealed tanks, plastic bags, and foam boxes, in purpose-built vehicles. Seasonal changes, such as changes in ambient and water temperature, are considered to be important contributors to successful live transport, as well as sufficient oxygen supplies and stocking density. The use of anesthetics was not commonly reported, particularly in food fish, and fish capture is predominantly by conventional dipnets. The health status of transported fish is determined mostly by morphology (body injury, body or eye color, and fin condition), as well as vigor and swimming ability. Our results indicate that live transport poses a number of welfare risks to fish but that participants in the process associated welfare concerns more with terrestrial animals, not fish.
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spelling pubmed-84663372021-09-27 Knowledge of, and Attitudes towards, Live Fish Transport among Aquaculture Industry Stakeholders in China: A Qualitative Study Yang, Yifei Wang, Tingyun Phillips, Clive J. C. Shao, Qingjun Narayan, Edward Descovich, Kris Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: China is the world’s largest producer of food fish, and Chinese consumers have a preference to buy live fish. Live transport of fish is, therefore, a common procedure in aquaculture and is a potential animal welfare hazard. Little has been published on current fish transportation practices in China or the knowledge and attitudes of stakeholders in this industry. Our qualitative study aimed to obtain original information about live transport processes from a cross-section of aquaculture stakeholders in China by conducting individual interviews. Stakeholders were interviewed about their knowledge of live transport and their attitudes towards the welfare of fish. Self-described knowledge of live transport varied between participants with different job types. Most participants had heard of and understood the concept of “animal welfare”, but many understood it to only refer to terrestrial livestock, not fish. This suggests that knowledge of fish welfare in the industry may be less than for other farm animals. The findings of this pilot study contribute to a better understanding of live fish transport from a stakeholder point of view. The findings will also assist in informing, educating, and sensitizing stakeholders to the importance of fish welfare during live transport. ABSTRACT: China is the largest food fish producer in the world. Chinese consumers normally purchase fish that are still alive to ensure freshness. Therefore, the live transport of fish is important in China’s aquaculture, although it carries potential risks for animal welfare. This study investigated the attitudes and knowledge of stakeholders within Chinese aquaculture towards the live transport and welfare of fish. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 participants who were involved with the aquaculture industry in China. Most participants self-rated their transport-related knowledge as moderate and had some understanding of animal welfare, although this term was generally considered only relevant to terrestrial animals. Participants’ responses indicated that the live transport of fish occurs frequently in China, generally using sealed tanks, plastic bags, and foam boxes, in purpose-built vehicles. Seasonal changes, such as changes in ambient and water temperature, are considered to be important contributors to successful live transport, as well as sufficient oxygen supplies and stocking density. The use of anesthetics was not commonly reported, particularly in food fish, and fish capture is predominantly by conventional dipnets. The health status of transported fish is determined mostly by morphology (body injury, body or eye color, and fin condition), as well as vigor and swimming ability. Our results indicate that live transport poses a number of welfare risks to fish but that participants in the process associated welfare concerns more with terrestrial animals, not fish. MDPI 2021-09-13 /pmc/articles/PMC8466337/ /pubmed/34573646 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11092678 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Yang, Yifei
Wang, Tingyun
Phillips, Clive J. C.
Shao, Qingjun
Narayan, Edward
Descovich, Kris
Knowledge of, and Attitudes towards, Live Fish Transport among Aquaculture Industry Stakeholders in China: A Qualitative Study
title Knowledge of, and Attitudes towards, Live Fish Transport among Aquaculture Industry Stakeholders in China: A Qualitative Study
title_full Knowledge of, and Attitudes towards, Live Fish Transport among Aquaculture Industry Stakeholders in China: A Qualitative Study
title_fullStr Knowledge of, and Attitudes towards, Live Fish Transport among Aquaculture Industry Stakeholders in China: A Qualitative Study
title_full_unstemmed Knowledge of, and Attitudes towards, Live Fish Transport among Aquaculture Industry Stakeholders in China: A Qualitative Study
title_short Knowledge of, and Attitudes towards, Live Fish Transport among Aquaculture Industry Stakeholders in China: A Qualitative Study
title_sort knowledge of, and attitudes towards, live fish transport among aquaculture industry stakeholders in china: a qualitative study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8466337/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34573646
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11092678
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