Benefish - Evaluation and Modelling of BENEfits and Costs of FISH Welfare Interventions in European Aquaculture

BENEFISH explores the benefits and costs of welfare measures in aquaculture production systems, having defined a widely-applicable set of operational welfare actions and indicators that can be connected to measurable consequences in production and extended to effects on value chain and changes in consumer perception.

BENEFISH produces a scientific basis for comparing the biological effects and monetary influences of various welfare measures through development of a high-level decision analysis model. The main objectives of BENEFISH are:

  1. use a set of widely applicable operational welfare indicators, define relationships between selected welfare control measures and their consequences for production, quality and consumer perception
  2. estimate the costs and benefits of potential welfare control measures and their documentation through case studies
  3. develop a decision analysis model allowing comparison between various welfare control measures on the basis of their biological and monetary consequences.

These objectives are achieved by mining existing data resources, supplementary collection of data from representative farming systems and construction of production and bio-economic models. The project consists of nine work packages that are divided into project management and three RTD blocks:

  • Welfare actions and indicators
  • Consequences of indicators in the value chain
  • Welfare utilities and bio-economic models

These aims are sub-divided into specific objectives addressed in specific work packages as follows:

Aim 1: To evaluate farm mortalities, and attribute costs and benefits - WP2

  • To model fin damage in aquaculture - WP3
  • To attribute costs and benefits related to feed patterns - WP4
  • To model the consequences of CO2 levels in aquaculture - WP5
  • To model the effects of OWI on prod. & costs and benefits of interventions - WP6
  • To evaluate and model added market value of fish welfare - WP7

Aim 2: To model costs and benefits of fish welfare management - WP8

Aim 3: To develop a decision making tool for fish welfare management - WP9

Homepage: www.benefish.no

Partners:

  • Transnational Consulting Partnership, EEIG
  • University of Glasgow
  • Norwegian Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture Research
  • University of Stirling
  • Wageningen Institute of Marine Resource and Ecosystem Studies
  • Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute
  • Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer
  • Agrotechnology and Food Innovations, B.V.
  • National Veterinary Institute of Norway
Start
2007-01-01
Slutt
2010-04-30
Status
Ferdig
Finansiering
EU Prosjekter
Forskningsområder
Fiskevelferd

Forskere

Cecilie Marie Mejdell

Fagansvarlig dyrevelferd, veterinær, seniorforsker
Vis telefonnummer
Send e-post