Program Overview

Fish Health and Welfare

Key Facts

• Start Date: February 27-28; April 24-25; June 12-13; August 28-29; October 23-24; December 4-5
• Duration: 2 days
• Fees: Course only: £650. Course and accommodation: £750.
• Mode of Study: Full-time
• Delivery: On-campus

Overview

This two-day course is designed to provide a solid understanding of the biological particularities of fish, fish health and disease, disease prevention, fish welfare, and relevant legislation. The course is aimed at all aquaculture stakeholders and includes a mix of classroom lectures and laboratory practical sessions.

Entrance Requirements

This is a foundation course, and there are no entry-level requirements as it is designed for all backgrounds.

Objectives

By attending this course, you will gain insight into:

• Fish welfare
• Why fish welfare matters
• Industry standards, good practice, and legislation
• Fish biology, anatomy, and physiology
• Salmon life cycle and smolt production
• Handling techniques, dissection, and tissue sampling
• Fish stress, health, and disease
• How vaccines work
• Main fish diseases and pathogens
• Sea lice monitoring and control
• Preventive and therapeutic strategies
• Managing gill problems
• Biosecurity, veterinary health, and welfare plans and record keeping

Structure and Content

• Welcome, course enrollment, and introduction
• Welfare: what is it and how do we measure it
• Welfare standards
• Fish physiology – refresher
• Practical session
• Health: what it is and how do we measure it
• Main diseases and transmission in farmed fish
• Sea lice case study
• Case studies - health and welfare

Delivery and Assessment

This is a two-day face-to-face course with a mix of classroom learning and laboratory practice. Training is provided by experienced, world-class researchers from various disciplines and guest speakers from the aquaculture sector. The course runs at the teaching and laboratory facilities of the Institute of Aquaculture.