Arguments Against Fish Enrichment

Evidence supporting the incorporation of enrichment materials into a captive mammal’s environment lead Pounder and his colleagues to investigate if doing so would be just as beneficial to captive fish. Fish are a hugely exploited research model as millions of tons of fish are farmed across the UK. Despite the massive commercial production occurring, inadequate research has been done on improving fish welfare in stressful situations. The large growth of the aquaculture industry should be synonymous with research about how to remedy production problems and facilitate humane treatment. In captivity, fish tanks are relatively under-stimulating compared to environments in the wild. It is thought that this disparity can cause stress or impaired cognitive function for the fish. It is simply recommended by the EU government that fish in captivity have enriched tanks. The fact that there has been little research done to discover potential benefits to enrichment might explain why there are no laws in place. Captive fish are often kept in barren tanks …show more content…
There failed to be a difference in OBR between any treatment group and environment. Recovery was expedited in regards to stress for fish in an enriched environment as opposed to fish in barren environments. Judging from this study, it is unclear whether the peak level of OBR or the recovery time is a more important indicator of the importance of enrichment. There was no enrichment effect on cortisol concentrations, but this factor may be influenced by the fact that the fish are checked after a 3 hour delay (peak acute stress is 1 hour post-stressor). Enrichment fish did experience lower coefficients of variation for cortisol levels than barren environment fish. Plasma cortisol was elevated for sham and pain group including a stress response. There are clear benefits for recovery for fish as long as enrichment is species