Abstract
Restocking and stock enhancement of marine organisms are increasingly becoming a common practice to replenish populations of fish and invertebrates. As for aquaculture, they raise several conservation and welfare issues. Here, we focus on lobsters (Homarus sp.), crustacean decapods that have been cultivated and released since the end of the nineteenth century. In Europe (H. gammarus), in the last three decades these actions have been prompted by dramatic stock depletion and efficient rearing technology, yet often overlooking ecological and behavioural data. We emphasize the relevance of behaviour and welfare assessment of cultured juveniles during the early benthic phase and report an experimental case study in which rearing conditions of juveniles were varied shaping distinct profiles in sheltering behaviour. Simple rearing procedures of environmental enrichment coupled with behavioural tests may allow improving and assessing the survival skills of individuals that will be released, at the same time ameliorating their welfare conditions and eventually increasing restocking success.
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Acknowledgments
The experiment was carried out at the facilities of the Ichthyogenic Experimental Marine Centre (CISMAR) of the University of Tuscia (Viterbo, Italy). Eleonora Saraga, Kelsey Horvath, Riccardo Delle Fratte, and Giacomo Grignani contributed to collect data, take care and rear animals, as part of their PhD, master and bachelor thesis on several aspects of lobster biology. We thank Dario Angeletti and Rossana Giannarini for practical and administrative assistance. Stella Falsini collected and formatted bibliographic entries. The late Francesca Gherardi and Laura Aquiloni (University of Florence) provided useful scientific feedback on crustacean biology. European Fisheries Fund to Lazio and Calabria supported restocking actions at the CISMAR in 2011 and 2012. The “Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Civitavecchia” (CaRiCiv) partially co-financed this study.
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This contribution is the extended, peer reviewed version of a paper presented at the conference ‘‘Sustainable management of the Mediterranean’’ held at Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome on March 21, 2014.
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Carere, C., Nascetti, G., Carlini, A. et al. Actions for restocking of the European lobster (Homarus gammarus): a case study on the relevance of behaviour and welfare assessment of cultured juveniles. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 26, 59–64 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-014-0361-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-014-0361-6