COPEWELL – A new integrative framework for the study of fish welfare based on the concepts of allostasis, appraisal and coping styles.
7 October 2011
This international project builds on several previous collaborations and aims to understand what matters to fish.
COPEWELL will study Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and sea bream (Sparus aurata). The project will focus on the understanding of how fish experience their world, based on appraisal theory and experimental studies. it will not simply describe fish behaviour or stress responses. Our methods will allow us to gain insights into how fish think and what is important to them. We will provide an understanding of the mechanisms involved in individual coping styles (or personalities), through the combination of behavioural, molecular and endocrinological studies. The theory of allostatic stress regulation has replaced homeostasis in many species and we will determine if the concept is relevant to fish and how it can be used to identify states of positive welfare.
We will explore the development of brain function and neuroendocrine stress responses, in order to understand the interrelations between husbandry practices, plasticity of brain function and stress response during early development. COPEWELL will explore potential consequences of early life stress experiences on the welfare and quality of juvenile fish.
COPEWELL will provide a new framework, based on evolutionary principles and an understanding of subjective experience of welfare as an evolved survival mechanism.
See http://www.imr.no/copewell for more information.