TY - JOUR
T1 - A preliminary assessment of indirect impacts on aquaculture species health and welfare in Scotland during COVID-19 lockdown.
AU - Murray, Alexander G.
AU - Ives, Stephen C.
AU - Smith, Ronald J.
AU - Moriarty, Meadhbh
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded by the Scottish Government through AQ03O0. The authors would like to acknowledge Graham Ewen, Food Standards Scotland for his insights into shellfish surveillance and Alan Christie for collating the industry data used herein.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/3/31
Y1 - 2021/3/31
N2 - COVID-19 led to sudden changes in human activities, mainly due to restrictive measures required to supress the virus. We assess the preliminary evidence for impacts on animal health and welfare in Scottish aquaculture, a key economic activity in remoter areas of the country. We summarise the industry structure, explore pathways of vulnerability to aquatic animal disease within a One Health framework that may be accentuated by impacts of COVID-19, and use basic routine data collection on the key welfare indicators of salmon mortality and parasitic sea lice counts. The indicators were published on schedule and provide no evidence of gross impact on health and welfare, at least for salmon, during the period of intensive lockdown restrictions in Scotland. Longer term effects cannot be ruled out and we do not assess impacts on the economic or social aspects of aquaculture production.
AB - COVID-19 led to sudden changes in human activities, mainly due to restrictive measures required to supress the virus. We assess the preliminary evidence for impacts on animal health and welfare in Scottish aquaculture, a key economic activity in remoter areas of the country. We summarise the industry structure, explore pathways of vulnerability to aquatic animal disease within a One Health framework that may be accentuated by impacts of COVID-19, and use basic routine data collection on the key welfare indicators of salmon mortality and parasitic sea lice counts. The indicators were published on schedule and provide no evidence of gross impact on health and welfare, at least for salmon, during the period of intensive lockdown restrictions in Scotland. Longer term effects cannot be ruled out and we do not assess impacts on the economic or social aspects of aquaculture production.
KW - Aquaculture management
KW - Atlantic salmon
KW - Fish disease management
KW - Pandemic
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099933431&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vas.2021.100167
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vas.2021.100167
M3 - Article
VL - 11
M1 - 100167
ER -