Fish health and welfare

The course will firstly give basic introduction to fish health and welfare, as well as stress physiology and perspectives on ethics of production. The course will then give a deeper introduction to fish health with special focus on disease and disorder, biosecurity, and monitoring and evaluation of health and welfare.

Knowledge:

• Know the terms fish welfare and health and how to work for improving welfare and health in fish farming.
• Basic knowledge of salmon stress physiology and ethics in the production.
• Know the most important diseases, disorders and parasite infections in fish farming and how they spread.
• Knowledge on how biosecurity can prevent spread of disease.
• Know relevant legislations, regulations and standards related to fish health and fish welfare.

Skills:

• The candidate can apply his/her knowledge of salmon in aquaculture to understand and contribute to solving new biological and operational issues in aquaculture and animal welfare.
• The candidate has the knowledge to find and apply relevant regulations, regulations and standards in animal welfare.
• The candidate is familiar with relevant biological methods and other professional tools for recognizing suboptimal farming conditions and contributing to solving the challenges.
• The candidate can reflect on his/her own professional practice in the subject areas of the course and act as part of an interdisciplinary team with staff from the other important disciplines in aquaculture, including as responsible manager.

General competence:

• The candidate can use knowledge and skills in an independent manner in different education and work-related situations by showing cooperation, responsibility, ability to reflect, and critical thinking.
• The candidate has broad insight into the environmental consequences and challenges of fish welfare in aquaculture and can put these in a broader perspective including economics and sustainability.
• The candidate can communicate knowledge about salmon biology in farming and the influence of the marine environment to different target groups both in writing and orally, and can help to highlight aspects of the aquaculture profession's significance and consequences.
• The candidate can, through sharing their knowledge and experience in academic discussions within the subject area, contribute to a continued sustainable operational and environmental development in aquaculture.
• The candidate knows and can contribute to new thinking, innovation and the digitalization of aquaculture based on the subject's areas.

The teaching will largely be based on lectures. There will be a laboratory exercise on stress in salmon, followed by submission of a lab report. In addition, there will be a short laboratory exercise on hygiene.