BIO-8014 Aquatic Animal Welfare - 5 stp

To be admitted to this PhD course, the applicant must be a student at a PhD programme. Non-UiT PhD students must upload a document from their university stating that they are registered PhD students. This group of applicants does not have to prove English proficiency and are exempt from semester fee.

PhD students at UiT register for the course through StudentWeb. The registration for spring semester starts in the middle of December.

External PhD students apply for admission through SøknadsWeb. Application code 9301.

Contact bfe-phd@hjelp.uit.no at the BFE-faculty if you have troubles or questions regarding registration to the course.

The course is mandatory for researchers who carry out experiments with aquatic animals (fish and decapods) and follows the minimum recommendations for education and training for researchers (FELASA C researcher).

The course should give the students sufficient knowledge and background for conducting legal, environmentally safe end ethically acceptable experimental work with live fish and decapods in Norway.

Knowledge

After completing the course, the student should have a:

• thorough knowledge of the legislation and regulations in animal experimentation, including the Animal welfare act (Dyrevelferdsloven) and the aquaculture management regulation (Akvakulturdriftsforskriften)
• sound understanding of the ethical guidelines for the use of animals in research and develop a respectful attitude while performing experimental work with live animal
• sufficient knowledge about relevant and important aspects of fish and decapod biology, including pain perception, stressors and stress responses, health and welfare, anesthesia/immobilization, acclimation, environmental needs and tagging methods
• sound understanding of the welfare indicator tools for assessing fish welfare in aquaculture

Skills

After completing the course, the student should be able to:

• write an animal experimentation application and apply to the Norwegian animal research authority (Forsøksdyrutvalget) for permission to do experiments
• conduct experimental work in accordance with the "the three R's" (Replace, Reduce, Refine) and the ethical guidelines for the use of animals in research

General competence

After completing the course, the student should have developed:

• ethically sound attitudes towards animals used in experiments reflecting "the three R's" (Replace, Reduce, Refine) and focusing on fish and decapod welfare
• understanding of the most important principles for choosing methods for handling and treating fish and decapods; understand the principles behind anesthesia, analgesia and humane killing of lab animals
• understanding of the general principles and steps for planning animal experiments, including quality control
• skills to assess welfare via operational and laboratory welfare indicators in aquaculture
• skills to assess published information on animal experiments

Lectures, seminars and activities at the fish research station in Kårvik.

One day excursion to the research station in Kårvik will include practical demonstrations of experiment preparation, fish handling, blood sampling, anaesthesia, etc.

The necessary safety training will be provided at Kårvik.