Computational animal welfare: Towards cognitive architecture models of animal sentience, emotion and wellbeing

To understand animal wellbeing, we need to consider subjective phenomena and sentience. This is challenging, since these properties are private and cannot be observed directly. Certain motivations, emotions and related internal states can be inferred in animals through experiments that involve choice, learning, generalization and decision-making. Yet, even though there is significant progress in elucidating the neurobiology of human consciousness, animal consciousness is still a mystery. We propose that computational animal welfare science emerges at the intersection of animal behaviour, welfare and computational cognition. By using ideas from cognitive science, we develop a functional and generic definition of subjective phenomena as any process or state of the organism that exists from the first-person perspective and cannot be isolated from the animal subject. We then outline a general cognitive architecture to model simple forms of subjective processes and sentience. This includes evolutionary adaptation which contains top-down attention modulation, predictive processing and subjective simulation by re-entrant (recursive) computations. Thereafter, we show how this approach uses major characteristics of the subjective experience: elementary self-awareness, global workspace and qualia with unity and continuity. This provides a formal framework for process-based modelling of animal needs, subjective states, sentience and wellbeing.publishedVersio

Risk assessment of marking and tracing methods with regards to the welfare of farmed salmonids. Opinion of the Panel on Animal Health and Welfare of the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety

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Sea lice removal by cleaner fish in salmon aquaculture: a review of the evidence base

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La Piezosurgery come metodica alternativa alla strumentazione rotante tradizionale nell'estrazione di ottavi inferiori inclusi. Revisione della letteratura

La presente dissertazione si occupa di esporre la validità della piezosurgery nell'estrazione di ottavi inclusi inferiori come alternativa alla strumentazione rotante tradizionale. Ne vengono illustrati vantaggi e svantaggi con particolare attenzione al tempo impiegato per l'intervento, alla riduzione delle complicanze e al miglioramento del decorso postoperatorio, il tutto sulla base di una revisione sistematica che la letteratura propone su questo argomento corredata dall' esposizione di una serie di casi clinici

Consistent melanophore spot patterns allow long-term individual recognition of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar

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Coping with a changing environment: The effects of early life stress

Ongoing rapid domestication of Atlantic salmon implies that individuals are subjected to evolutionarily novel stressors encountered under conditions of artificial rearing, requiring new levels and directions of flexibility in physiological and behavioural coping mechanisms. Phenotypic plasticity to environmental changes is particularly evident at early life stages. We investigated the performance of salmon, previously subjected to an unpredictable chronic stress (UCS) treatment at an early age (10 month old parr), over several months and life stages. The UCS fish showed overall higher specific growth rates compared with unstressed controls after smoltification, a particularly challenging life stage, and after seawater transfer. Furthermore, subjecting fish to acute stress at the end of the experiment, we found that UCS groups had an overall lower hypothalamic catecholaminergic and brain stem serotonergic response to stress compared with control groups. In addition, serotonergic activity was negatively correlated with final growth rates, which implies that serotonin responsive individuals have growth disadvantages. Altogether, our results may imply that a subdued monoaminergic response in stressful farming environments may be beneficial, because in such situations individuals may be able to reallocate energy from stress responses into other life processes, such as growth

Minding the Gaps in Fish Welfare: The Untapped Potential of Fish Farm Workers

The welfare of farmed fish is often regarded with less concern than the welfare of other husbandry animals, as fish are not universally classified as sentient beings. In Norway, farmed fish and other husbandry animals are legally protected under the same laws. Additionally, the legislature has defined a number of aquaculture-specific amendments, including mandatory welfare courses for fish farmers who have a key role in securing animal welfare, also with regards to noting welfare challenges in the production process. This article uses fish welfare courses as a site from which to inquire about the common-sense understanding of fish welfare in Norwegian fish farming. The focus is specifically on fish farm employees, their experiences of welfare-related issues and contradictions in their daily work, and the struggle to act responsibly in aquaculture settings. Through participant observation at welfare courses, as well as interviews and conversations with fish farm workers, the article details how challenges are experienced ‘on the ground’, and suggests how fish farm workers’ own experiential knowledge might be mobilized to improve the general welfare of farmed fish.publishedVersio

Sudden exposure to warm water causes Instant behavioural responses indicative of nociception or pain in Atlantic salmon

Thermal treatment has become the most used delousing method in salmonid aquaculture. However, concerns have been raised about it being painful for the fish. We studied the behavioural response of Atlantic salmon acclimated to 8°C when transferred to temperatures in the range 0–38°C. Exposure time was 5 min or until they reached the endpoint of losing equilibrium and laying on their side, a sign of imminent death. At temperatures below 28°C, none of the fish reached endpoint within the 5-min maximum. At 28°C four of five fish reached endpoint, and fish reached endpoint more rapidly as temperature increased further. Fish transferred to temperatures above 28°C had higher swimming speed immediately after transfer and maintained a high swimming speed until just before loss of equilibrium. Their behaviour was from the start characterised by collisions into tank walls and head shaking. Just before loss of equilibrium they started breaking the surface of the water, swimming in a circle pattern and in some instances displayed a side-wise bending of their body. In other words, salmon transferred to temperatures above 28°C showed instant behavioural responses indicative of nociception or pain.publishedVersio