RENSVEL

Welfare of cleaner fish

Ballan wrasse producer MOWI in Øygarden just outside Bergen, has been collaborating with scientists for many years to solve feeding challenges. Here is a picture of their ballan wrasse fry in 2012. They are now one step further along the way. Photo: Jon-Are Berg-Jacobsen © Nofima.

With the increasing use of cleaner fish, especially farmed ballan wrasse and lumpfish (and also wild-caught goldsinny wrasse), there is a need for more knowledge on the welfare of these species.

Last update 12.02.2024

Read in Norwegian

Start

01. Nov 2015

End

15. Apr 2019

Funded by

The Norwegian Seafood Research Fund - FHF

Cooperation

NTNU, University of Bergen, Nord University

Project Manager(s):

Åsa Maria O. Espmark

The hypothesis is that good fish welfare will improve survival, well-being and the lice eating capabilities of these fish.

The goal of the RENSVEL project is to develop and deliver robust and knowledge-based operational welfare indicators (OWIs) that can be used to assess welfare in the cleaner fish species ballan wrasse (Labrus berggylta) and lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus L.). The project will also provide new knowledge about environmental factors that may be critical to these species’ welfare.

RENVSEL Fact sheet series

As part of the RENSVEL project, two sets of OWI fact sheets have been produced based on the latest scientific and practical knowledge of cleaner fish OWIs and these are freely available as PDFs for the benefit of all who work with ballan wrasse and lumpfish: