AQUALAB 3: Fish Welfare

Venue: University of Insubria, Varese, ITALY
Local Organiser: Prof. Marco Saroglia, University of Insubria
Participation Fee: €700 (note a significant number of funded places are available to eligible applicants)
Date of Course: September 11 - 17, 2005
Co-ordinator: AquaTT
Funded by: Marie Curie Action (Series of Events) of the Sixth Framework Programme

INTRODUCTION
The third of the AQUALABS Training Course Series, partially funded by the Marie Curie programme, took place in Varese , Italy from the 11-17 September. The seven day training course provided an opportunity for students and researchers to share, explore and identify new laboratory techniques and research developments. The focus of this course was Fish Welfare, and was hosted at the University of Insubria, Department of Structural and Functional Biology (DBSF) Unit, Varese, Italy. DBSF is equipped with laboratories for molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, ecology and ectoxicology; the aquaculture laboratory on the campus is equipped to rear Mediterranean species in a recirculation system, plus a number of experimental aquaria. The university is involved in research studies on sustainable aquaculture, recirculation systems in closed circuits and outdoor, fish welfare, stress monitoring and control, activation/de-activation of genes with nutrition, osmo-respiratory compromise and water oxygenation.

The AQUALABS Training Course in Varese had 25 participants from 15 countries worldwide. The countries represented on the Training Course included Morocco, Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Russia, Latvia, Spain, Italy, France, UK, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, Turkey and Portugal

THE COURSE
With a consistent increase in the importance of fish welfare, this course provided state-of-the-art hands-on training on the key techniques to monitor and to control fish welfare in intensive aquaculture such as flow-through and water recirculation land-based systems. Study topics for this course included (1) a description of welfare and its various aspects in fish; (2) lectures on the environmental factors which may result in the lack of growth in fish, activity mechanisms, monitoring protocols, Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) projects and control technologies etc; (3) a study of the current fish welfare monitoring techniques including behaviour, blood analysis, histological and histochemical tools, physiopathological approaches and zootechnical performances.

Theoretical presentations and practical modules were incorporated in the agenda. The laboratory exercises in the agenda included:
- Histological/Histochemical approaches and apoptosi descriptors;
- ELISA practical applications and analysis of macrophage activity;
- Capillary electrophoresis for DNA sequencing;
- Molecular technologies directed to fish welfare study: RT-PCR in practice;
- Differential display applications on fish tissues, after mRNA extraction.

For the purpose of the course, the University of Insubria sources a number of leading lecturers in this growing field of research for the lectures from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Wageningen University, Ifremer, Brest Ifremer, Palavas, Glasgow University and the University of Insubria, Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Sciences (DBSM) and Department of Structural and Functional Biology (DBSF). The practicals for this course reflected an outstanding collaboration between academia and industry. The practical on Capillary electrophoresis for DNA sequencing involved the participation of Tecniplast (Varese, Italy) and GE Healthcare Italia. The course also featured practicals with Bio-Rad. 

The scientific coordinators at the University also arranged a field trip to the Fantinato fish farm in Marano Ticino which produces rainbow trout, brown trout, sturgeon and carp and the Mandelli fish farm in Cerano (Novara, Piemonte).

The photo gallery of participants, organisers and lecturers from the AQUALABS Training course in Varese can be viewed at the link below:

http://www.aquatt.ie/gallery/


The Series Promotes EQUAL OPPORTUNITES For All.