fair-fish was honoured to be invited to the kick-off conference of the "Catch Welfare Platform" in Bergen, Norway during 20.-22.11.2023. The aim of this platform is to bring all stakeholders in fisheries around the table and engage them in acknowledging and improving the welfare of aquatic species. Founded by a scientific initiative and relying on scientifically gathered knowledge, the idea is to give inspiration and motivation to non-scientific parties to develop solutions for improving welfare. The organisers were especially proud that half of the participants came from seafood-related industries, NGOs, retail or were fishing folks themselves. Only by collaborating will we advance in improving the situation for aquatic species.

fair-fish had the opportunity to present the catch branch of the fair-fish database in a poster and talk about the Carefish/catch project that the catch branch has emerged from.

And here is the second WelfareCheck in the recently launched catch branch of the fair-fish database: Clupea harengus (Atlantic herring) caught with purse seines. Although there is more welfare-related research available than for Engraulis ringens, we were not highly certain of any of our scorings. And neither likelihood nor potential turned out to be high in any of the criteria.

We are collecting more feedback and constantly learning. If you are familiar with herring purse seine fisheries and would like to share your knowledge, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The fair-fish database team is proud to launch the catch branch of the database. With this, we effectively enter a new era since our start in 2013. After months of work, we now broadened the scope of the database from aquaculture to fisheries.

What stays the same is our concern for the welfare of aquatic species – although in fisheries, we are aware that the welfare will never be good, as the contact with humans is limited to the final chapter of the species' lifes with the eventual goal to kill the fishes. Still, there are many steps along the catching process which potentially give rise to improvements with the aim to at least reduce the suffering as much as possible. For the rationale of the catch branch, see here .

The first profile which introduces the catch branch is the WelfareCheck | catch of Engraulis ringens (Peruvian anchoveta) caught with purse seines. Our assessment of the welfare potential is quite grim which is in part also due to the little literature we found on welfare-related issues. This is just one reason why we released this WelfareCheck as a pre-release: We would like to receive your feedback on the new branch, are eager for your input on Engraulis ringens in particular, and are still ironing out some kinks. Stay tuned for more developments and new profiles of aquatic species in fisheries!

Series 16 of FishEthoGroup's podcast programme on the fair-fish database entails episodes on Morone saxatilis (Striped bass), Barbonymus gonionotus (Silver barb), and Oncorhynchus mykiss (Rainbow trout). In snippets of about 3 min each, you get to know the most important things we researched on these species for the fair-fish database. To listen to the episodes, click on the links above or go to FishEthoGroup .

The Aquatic Life Institute conference on 18.10.2023 gave us another chance to present the fair-fish database to an audience interested in fish welfare. Embedded into the session "Essential tools and resources", María Cabrera-Álvarez gave an introduction into what the database has to offer. Caroline Marques Maia followed up on it with the approach within her post-doc project looking into some data in more detail. We will let you know more once her research is published. If you use the fair-fish database as one of your essential tools and resources, please let us know ! You can watch the whole session here .

The latest episode of "The Fish Mind" podcast programme of our collaborators FishEthoGroup wraps up the series about fish suffering with information on perception of stress, anxiety, and fear in fishes. You read that right. Fishes are still massively underestimated in the wealth of responses they are capable of. If you would like to find out more, head over to FishEthoGroup's Fish Talk podcast – and then share the news.

Penaeus vannamei (Whiteleg shrimp) is another one of the very early profiles that we launched in the database. In the update we now published, we incorporated more and also more recent literature that changed the scoring in 5 of the 10 criteria. Given great care and ideal conditions, P. vannamei may experience high welfare when it comes to reproduction and substrate. And with more research, further criteria might follow. Head over to find out what changed and enjoy the new formatting scheme we fitted the profile in.

While you are there, you might also notice some new names and words. We are in the middle of preparing the database for the catch addition, and so we gave some traditional names a good thinking. Instead of "Findings", the collection of habitat-, biology-, and welfare-related study summaries is now called "Dossier"; the "Recommendations" for practitioners are simply "Advice". Also, with the re-naming of the database (from FishEthoBase to fair-fish database), we now adjusted the name of the score: WelfareScore. Consequently, the "Short profile" is the "WelfareCheck" from now on. More changes will come soon!

María Cabrera-Álvarez from the fair-fish database team presented the database last week during the "Behaviour 2023" conference in Bielefeld, Germany. Under the title "Welfare assessment of farmed aquatic species using the fair-fish database: the need for ethological and welfare studies in unexplored species", she spoke about how often we don't find enough or any research on the species we assess – corroborated by the work of Caroline Marques-Maia, another colleague from the fair-fish database team, who currently prepares a publication on her evaluation of the data published in the database.

In 2022, our colleagues from FishEthoGroup were invited to write a report for the Aquaculture Advisory Council of the European Commission on the topic of "Using ethology to improve farmed fish welfare and production" . This report was recently published anew with an updated appendix. For this report, FishEthoGroup collaborated with the fair-fish database to give a summary of the situation of 5 of the most frequently farmed species in Europe (Sparus aurata, Dicentrarchus labrax, Oncorhynchus mykiss, Salmo salar, Cyprinus carpio). We from the fair-fish database used the opportunity to update these 5 profiles (of which you have read in this News section in the past months). Among them was that of Salmo salar , the Atlantic salmon, which was enriched with a plethora of papers and was transferred to our latest more transparent and user-friendly formatting scheme. Thanks to the update, we could get rid of a couple of question marks in the welfare assessment, but the new findings only manifested what was hinted at before: except at slaughter, Salmo salar cannot experience good welfare in captivity even under the best possible conditions.

In the new episode of "The Fish Mind" , you will learn that fishes try to avoid painful stimuli and will seek out analgesics to relief pain. Our colleagues from the FishEthoGroup explain these issues in only a few minutes over in the Fish Talk podcast. Learn something new today and tell a friend!

Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) is one of the most frequently farmed species in the world, and so it belonged to the first ones we created a profile on in the database. Six years later it was time for a thorough update. Please find the profile here and discover the broader literature base including a selection of recently published papers as well as our latest formatting scheme featuring higher usability and more transparent scoring. In the end, our welfare assessment changed in 7 criteria, eliminating all of the question marks and for the majority changing for the better. Still, our analysis revealed that Common carp may at most experience high welfare in 4 out of 10 criteria.

Our colleagues at FishEthoGroup published the second episode of the new podcast programme "The Fish Mind". To learn more about how fishes react when they are in pain, please head over here . You will be surprised how similar to human behaviour some of fishes' respones are. Learn something new in 5 min listening time and share with others!

One year ago, fair-fish launched the new website for the fair-fish database (then: FishEthoBase) with a complete design makeover and many new features. And we are not stopping there. The database is in constant change. In July and August, we will apply some modifications, among them re-naming some familiar parts. The aim is to make these parts consistent with the new name of the database and to prepare the current database for the addition of a whole new and pioneering approach to fish welfare. Stay tuned!

Our colleagues at FishEthoGroup (FEG) launched a new programme for their podcast FishTalk. Besides the "fair-fish database programme" that profiles species covered in the fair-fish database, FishTalk now also offers "The Fish Mind". Here, FEG delves into the capacities of fishes and other aquatic animals to feel pain and other affective states as well as to display cognitive abilities. As is common for FEG's podcasts, the episodes are just a couple of minutes long – convenient for everyone with a busy schedule. Find out more about how fishes suffer in the first episode here .

Series 15 is out – of FishEthoGroup's podcast programme FishTalk. This time, you will learn the most important aspects about the welfare potential of Malabar grouper (Scophthalmus maximus), Cobia (Rachycentron canadum), and Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) – all in around 3 min each. You cannot only find the episodes here in the database. To access the new and all previous FishTalk episodes, head over to FishEthoGroup .

The latest episodes of FishEthoGroup's podcast programme on profiles from the fair-fish database is out. FishTalk series 14 deals with Scophthalmus maximus (Turbot), Diplodus puntazzo (Sharpsnout seabream), and Dentex dentex (Common dentex). In around 3 min each, you will find out about the species in general and on welfare aspects in captivity in particular. To access the sound bites, please go to the Overview pages of the species here in the database or to FishEthoGroup .

Our scientific collaborator FishEthoGroup recently published series 13 of its FishTalk podcast programme about species profiled in the fair-fish database. In about 3 minutes each, you will find the most important aspects of distribution, biological aspects, and welfare potential in captivity. Please find the episodes featured on the Overview pages of Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, Lota lota, and Silurus asotus and also here .

Welcome to the fair-fish database! We say goodbye to the name "FishEthoBase" for several reasons. The database has grown beyond dealing purely with ethology, more towards welfare in general – and so much more. Also, the partners fair-fish and FishEthoGroup decided to re-organise their partnership. While maintaining our friendship, we also desire for greater independence. So, the name "fair-fish database" establishes it as a fair-fish endeavour – continuously supported and not possible without our main, closest, and dear colleagues from FishEthoGroup . Many more changes to the website will follow in the near future, so look out and enjoy the "fair-fish database".

In series 12 of the FishEthoBase programme of FishTalk, you will learn some interesting facts about Salmo carpio (Lake Garda carpione), Oncorhynchus kisutch (Coho salmon), and Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Chinook salmon). Each programme gives general information on the species together with selected aspects of our welfare assessment from the Short profile in about 3 minutes listening time. Please find the programmes on the website of our partner FishEthoGroup – the creator of FishTalk – as well as on the Overview page of each species involved here in the FishEthoBase.

Papyrocranus afer, also called Reticulated knifefish, is our second bony-tongue fish (Osteoglossiformes), the first of the family of featherbacks and knifefishes (Notopteridae). Inhabiting fresh water of West Africa, the culture of P. afer has become popular to supply the local communities. Extremely little is known about behaviour in the wild and the conditions in captivity, though. We are not able to properly assess the welfare of P. afer in aquaculture on the basis of the knowledge we found. Please take a look for yourself here in the Overview and Short profile.

Please find the latest addition to our Species tree: the Asian freshwater Bonylip barb, Osteochilus vittatus. Although among FAO's list of aquaculture species with substantial economic relevance, much of the information from the wild we need for our assessment of welfare in captivity is missing. Data on farming facilities is scare, too, at least in English language. Please find what we were able to assemble here in the Overview and Short profile.

Protosalanx chinensis is the first of the order Osmeriformes and the first of the family Salangidae – ice- or noodlefishes – in the FishEthoBase. This fish with the distinctive elongated shape and the transparent or translucent body is native to the coast off China. Migrating into rivers to spawn, it also sustains fresh water, though, and has been stocked into lakes and reservoirs. Although research has increased in recent time, there is still little knowledge about natural behaviour. It was also difficult to find English language information about conditions in farms resulting in a very low FishEthoScore. Please find our assessment in the Overview and Short profile of P. chinensis.

The Short profile of Oncorhynchus mykiss, Rainbow trout, was one of the first ones published in the FishEthoBase - it was time for an update! Please find the Short profile with more detailed information, selected papers since 2017 as well as our new consistent age class and label structure here. Unfortunately, the FishEthoScore did not improve in the last 6 years since we first assessed O. mykiss' welfare potential in captivity and remains very low.

Extending the cyprinid branch of the FishEthoBase species tree, we move from Asia to Africa, exploring the Algerian barb (Luciobarbus callensis). Very popular for local fisheries in lakes and rivers, L. callensis is also an important aquaculture species worldwide. Considering this, there is surprisingly little knowledge available on behaviour in the wild. We also hardly found information on farming facilities. These are the reasons we cannot properly assess the welfare potential in captivity and arrive at such a low FishEthoScore. For more information, please visit the Overview and Short profile of L. callensis.

The last series of the year (series 11) for FishTalk, FishEthoGroup's podcast, features three catfishes, even if from different families. Yellow catfish (Tachysurus sinensis), Chinese longsnout catfish (Tachysurus dumerili), and Black bullhead catfish (Ameiurus melas) are all nocturnal. Another thing they have in common is that further research is needed on behaviour in the wild to make the best possible recommendations for the farming environment. Of the three, A. melas has slightly better potential to experience high welfare in captivity, for it does not seem to migrate and be aggressive. Further research is needed, however. Other than that, the FishEthoScore is very low - even more so in T. sinensis and T. dumerili. Find out more in their short profiles.

Being one of the most frequently farmed species in the Mediterranean after European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), it was time for an update of our Gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) Overview and Short profile. In the Short profile, please find - along with our newly-established consistent age class and label structure - more detailed information on criteria, up to date farming facility data, and more recent papers incorporated. This helped eliminate some of the question marks we had in the welfare assessment, although there are still many knowledge gaps to fill. The FishEthoScore remains very low, indicating a low probability for achieving high welfare both under minimal and high-standard farming conditions.

Have you ever seen a mad barb? Leptobarbus hoevenii, also called Hoven's carp, lives in rivers and streams of Southeast Asia where it occasionally feeds on the seeds of the chaulmoogra tree. The intoxicating effects make Leptobarbus hoevenii behave seemingly drunk, resulting in the common name "Mad barb". Welfare assessment in captivity can also drive you mad, as a lot of the information from the wild is missing, e.g., on home range, aggregation, aggression, substrate, stress, and malformations. To get an impression of what we know and what that means for welfare of Mad barb, please visit the Overview and the Short profile.

With Cirrhinus molitorella, also called Mud carp, we are extending our cyprinid branch of the FishEthoBase with one more species originating from and preferentially cultured in Asia. A lot of information from the wild is missing or so scarce that we can hardly give recommendations for captivity. Depth range and substrate use are among those criteria with enough information present to be hopeful that a considerate overlap of rearing facilities with the needs of the species is possible. Find out more about Cirrhinus molitorella in the Overview and the Short profile.

It has been 5 years since the first publication of the Short profile for European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax). We updated the content using a selection of papers that came out since 2017. Also, you will notice a change in formatting. The FishEthoBase has undergone several formatting changes and was launched in a new design in the summer of 2022. Now, we additionally implemented a consistent age class and label structure throughout the profile with Dicentrarchus labrax as the premiere species. Please find the fully updated Species profile (in content and formatting) of Dicentrarchus labrax now in the FishEthoBase – our first profile with the version number 3.0.

Extending our cyprinid branch of the species tree, we recently added Cirrhinus microlepis, the Smallscale mud carp. Although one of the most frequently farmed species in southeast Asia, too little is known about home range, depth range, aggregation, aggression, substrate, and malformations, and even nothing is know about proneness to stress. From the litte information we have, the urge to migrate, the practice of inducing spawning by hormones, and a missing established slaughter protocol are not promising when it comes to assessing the welfare potential of this carp in captivity. For more information, please visit the Overview and Short profile of Cirrhinus microlepis.

In this month's series of the FishEthoBase podcast programme of FishTalk you will find introductory information in less than 3 minutes on the Indian major carps. They entail Catla (Labeo catla), Roho labeo (Labeo rohita), and Mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala). If this gives you a taste for more, please find their profiles (Overview and Short profile) together with our assessment of how much welfare they are likely to experience in captivity here in the FishEthoBase.

Tachysurus dumerili, Chinese longsnout catfish, is a species with a lot of question marks. What we know is that it is a demersal nocturnal catfish, but data on home and depth range, migration, reproduction, aggregation, and malformations is missing. A tendency towards aggression and sensitivity to stress are unfavourable for aquaculture, and a high-standard slaughtering protocol needs to be verified for T. dumerili. For the details, please explore the Overview and the Short profile.

Discover Ameiurus melas, the Black bullhead catfish from North America: The bottom feeder does not migrate and is not aggressive – good prerequisites to being held in captivity. The stocking densities in farms are much higher than what it experiences naturally, though, and for reproduction, fingerlings are taken from the wild. Also, research is needed on stress experience in captivity, malformations as well as a humane slaughter protocol. Please find the Overview and the Short profile now in the FEB.

Barbonymus schwanenfeldii, the Tinfoil barb, is the latest species added to the FishEthoBase. Besides living in fresh water in a benthopelagic manner, not much is known about the natural needs and behaviour. Given that it originates in the Mekong and Chao Praya basins and has since been introduced to other Asian territories, the US, and Ivory coast, surviving in habitats as narrow as ditches and flooded fields, it can be concluded that B. schwanenfeldii has a certain level of resilience. Further research is needed – also on reproduction, as the life cycle is not closed in captivity. Only by knowing the natural needs, can we know what to provide the species with in captivity. Explore the Overview and the Short profile for our current assessment.

Series 8 of our Fish Talk podcast programme on the FishEthoBase just launched. Please find it here . In audio features of less than 3 minutes each, you are invited to learn about Milkfish (Chanos chanos), Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), and Pond loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) and which aspects of their natural needs may or may not be accommodated in captivity. If you would like to dive deeper into our assessments of these species, you will find their profiles in our FishEthoBase.

Osteobrama belangeri – or Pengba – which is native to India, Myanmar, and China, is at first view a curious choice for an aquaculture species: Its growth falls behind the Indian major carps, and it is prone to diseases and vulnerable to stress. It does, however, help diversify carp culture by replacing C. idella as the herbivorous species in polycultures, for example. To be able to increase welfare in captivity, though, more information on behaviour and needs in the wild are necessary. Find our assessment of the welfare status and welfare potential in farms here.

From the Amazon river comes the new species for the FishEthoBase: Arapaima gigas, locally known as Pirarucu. This species is really a giant - it is considered one of the largest freshwater species worldwide. Especially depth and reproduction needs can be met in captivity, but there is more research needed on home range, aggregation, aggression, malformation rates, and a slaughter protocol to be able to assess the welfare potential in farms. Have a look at our analysis here.

Did you already notice the revised design of our FishEthoScore/farm, our assessment of the probability to experience good welfare given either minimal or high-standard farming conditions, in the short profile? We condensed the information to the minimum so that you get the result of our scoring at first view. If you are interested in the details for the individual criteria, you will find them in the expanded panel. Use mouse-over for written explanations to complement the visual design.

In our FishTalk podcast, please find new episodes of the FishEthoBase programme here . Series 7 is about Bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), Black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus), and Silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix). In just a few words - less than 3 min - you will learn about natural needs, behaviours or farming conditions of the  species to accompany their profile in the FishEthoBase.

The latest addition to our Species tree is the nocturnal Ictalurus punctatus or Channel catfish. You are invited to explore the Overview and the Short profile for this species which dominates the aquaculture sector in the USA. Under ideal conditions, depth and reproduction needs are covered, and a slaughter protocol is in place. On the other hand, migration and substrate needs as well as a tendency towards solitary lifestyle, aggression, and stress prevent reaching good welfare in captivity.

Some profiles have undergone several formatting changes over time and need revision, others have been reviewed once and wait for a second review – find the information on the status of the profile now in the head of the page. "This part of the profile is currently being revised." signals that there might be changes made soon.

Keep track of our changes to the profiles via the version number. To differentiate minor changes like formatting issues from major changes like newly added papers, we will signal this in the three digit version number: all profiles have changed to 2.0 (revision 0) with the start of the FEB 2.0. With a major change, this number will become 2.1 (revision 0); with a minor change, it will become 2.0 (revision 1).

We recently added the Overview and Short profile for Labeo calbasu – or Orangefin labeo – to the FishEthoBase. This is a freshwater cyprinid originating in Asia and popular for polyculture with the Indian major carps and selected Chinese major carps. Yet, research on wild characteristics is largely missing, and there is a need for more information on the welfare potential under farming conditions also. Please find our FishEthoScore rating and the corresponding details here.

The revised species tree now provides an easy comparison between the FishEthoScores of the profiled species. Play around with the sorting to find the order of species with the highest probability for good welfare under minimal farming conditions (Likelihood) or under high-standard farming conditions (Potential) or with the highest certainty of these scorings (Certainty). Use mouse-over on the legend or the FishEthoScore/farm to get more information. Also via mouse-over, find highlighted by colour all those species belonging to the same family, order or class. Collapse branches of the tree with a mouse click to get better orientation.

FishTalk is our podcast, which is updated monthly. FishEthoBase programme at Fish Talk is composed of series of brief audios focused on fish species with profiles already published in our FishEthoBase. The idea is to give information about natural needs, behaviours or farming conditions of fishes and other aquatic farmed animals in less than 3 min.

Now we just released new episodes of FishEthoBase programme. This time the episodes are focused on Common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis), Mexican four-eyed octopus (Octopus maya) and Common octopus (Octopus vulgaris).

If you are interested, please click here to listen to the new episodes (series 6).

Bighead carp, scientifically known as Hypophthalmichthys nobilis, is one of the four Chinese major carps and can be found in lakes, rivers, and reservoirs of south and central China. It is one of the most intensively cultured fishes in Asia.

As this carp is a planktivorous fish, it is reared not just for its production, but also as a filter-feeding fish in polycultures, helping to improve the water quality and controlling the phytoplankton. Bighead carp is a fast growing fish, which is also interesting for aquaculture, but this means it is usually sold before reaching maturity.

Because bighead carp can also feed on detritus and organisms living on the bottom opportunistically, it could be important to provide access to substrate for this carp in captivity, so it has more feed choices. Moreover, as it is commonly sold live or fresh locally, this fish probably dies by asphyxia, which means much suffering. As no high-standard slaughter method is available for this carp, further research about this is urgent.

If you would like to know more about bighead carp, please visit its profile here.

Explore the new Overview site with which every species profile starts. You will find a glimpse into the most important aspects for the species with links to where in the database you may find more details. And we will add further information soon!

We thought it was time to give the FishEthoBase a complete makeover. And now it's finally done: the Fish Ethology Database launches with a new base and a new look. Enjoy!