Abstract
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.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 100167 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-5 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Veterinary and Animal Science |
Volume | 11 |
Early online date | 20 Jan 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - 31 Mar 2021 |
Bibliographical note
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
Keywords
- Aquaculture management
- Atlantic salmon
- Fish disease management
- Pandemic