Operational Welfare Indicator Guidance for European Aquaculture Producers

First and foremost, routine operational welfare indicator assessment helps your production identify trends and early warning signs of potential underlying welfare issues before they manifest in costly production events, such as mass mortalities. To get the most from your data, it is important that operational welfare indicators are assessed in a systematic and standardized way, improving your data collection.

Customers and certification standards are increasingly requiring producers to assess and score operational welfare indicators. We will be releasing a guidance document on welfare monitoring for certification compliance later in 2025.

Additionally, proactive welfare monitoring can differentiate your operation in increasingly quality- and welfare-conscious markets..

In the salmon industry, operational welfare indicator monitoring is commonplace, with tools such as Laksvel being available to producers.

Operational welfare indicators (OWIs) are practical indicators that can realistically be measured on the farm, which provide insights into fish welfare status, including health indicators like physical injury.

Some examples of OWIs include fin damage, skin damage, body condition factor, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and feeding behaviour.

Preliminary Operational Welfare Indicator guidance documents will be released for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata), and European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) during 2025. These guidance documents will be practical and aligned with major certifications. Feedback is welcomed and encouraged.