Research from Japan on Environmental Enrichment in Salmon Aquaculture

Fishy Fridays

Weekly spotlight on fisheries science journal articles

 

Jeff Kopaska
AFS Executive Director
jkopaska@fisheries.org

This week is the Spring Meeting of the Japanese Society of Fisheries Science, one of AFS’ international partners. AFS is pleased to host representatives of this prestigious organization at our Annual Meeting, and President Gary Whelan is currently at their meeting representing AFS. These collaborations allow us, collectively, a better understanding of the global scale of fisheries challenges and successes. AFS also publishes articles submitted by our international colleagues, and today’s paper is from Japan. The publication looks at the impact of habitat addition, termed environmental enrichment in the paper, on the health and welfare of salmon in aquaculture facilities. Simply adding some shredded plastic into the rearing tanks reduced plasma cortisol levels, and the fish showed fewer ich infections. As I was reading the paper, I was curious if these enrichments might harbor parasites over time, but the authors addressed that question in the discussion! I enjoyed learning a bit about something brand new to me, and I hope you enjoy it too.

Does environmental enrichment mitigate parasite infection by reducing stress in Masu Salmon Oncorhynchus masou?