We conduct research on ethology and welfare of aquatic animals. Other activities include developing an open-access database on the welfare of farmed fish, providing consultancy services for fish farms and organizing training actions at scientific and industry levels.

The Fish Ethology and Welfare Group develops its activity in 4 main pillars:

• Fundamental research on the ethology and welfare of aquatic animals (namely fish), including not only proximate mechanisms underlying behaviour such as endocrinology, neurobiology and transcriptomics, but also ultimate mechanisms such as ecology, evolution, adaptation and selection (see publications);

• An open-access database on welfare of farmed aquatic animals, reviewing essential welfare criteria for all aquatic animal species currently farmed worldwide (see FishEthoBase);

• Consultancy for fish farms with the aim of establishing welfare standards for aquaculture and fisheries (see the CAREFISH project and the Carefish/catch);

• Advanced training (conferences, workshops and courses) concerning the welfare of fish (see Summer Shoal 2019, 2022, 2023 and Fish Welfare Course).