ABOUT PISCIBIEN
Development and implementation of innovative strategies to improve fish welfare at critical points in aquaculture (PISCIBIEN), coordinated by the Aquaculture Cluster-CETGA, is one of the aquaculture projects that has received support from the 'Next Generation EU' funds, which are an investment and reform initiative in research for technological development, innovation and the balance of the commercialization chain in the fisheries and aquaculture sector, which is part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), under the management of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of the Spanish Government (RD. 685/2021).
The research aims to analyze and suggest welfare solutions for fish in the most critical moments of their production process, from the larval stage to slaughter, analyzing their response to stress and focusing on the reduction of postlarval mortality, the risks of the fattening, vaccination or transport stages or episodes of hypoxia, among others, with the objective of generating protocols that improve the welfare of the animals in all stages.
Specifically, the Aquaculture Research Group of the University Institute ECOAQUA will focus its studies on the larval stage and very early juveniles, in order to "improve the conditions of the farming through functional diets", says Daniel Montero, professor of Zoology and Aquaculture at the ULPGC, who will lead the research team of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in this project.
Montero is currently responsible for the GIAculture service of the university institute, as well as scientific coordinator of the aquaculture facilities of ECOAQUA and coordinator of the PhD program ACUISEMAR. His research focuses on nutrition and health and stress resistance of marine farmed fish. For this reason, their view and experience are key in contributing to the solutions to be found with the PISCIBIEN project.
