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Research led by Professor Charles Tyler at the University of Exeter has provided critical data on the widespread adverse oestrogenic effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals in wild fish populations in the UK. This has triggered the UK government to take action through investment in research and development of policies and guidelines. The research has led to world-wide recognition that endocrine disrupting chemicals are an emerging policy issue, a £40 million demonstration project with the UK government and water industry, and multi-million pound benefits to the UK in terms of improved water quality and safeguarding freshwater wildlife.
Omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) are essential nutrients and have many beneficial effects on human health. Fish are the major source of omega-3 LC-PUFA in the human diet, and its level was maintained in farmed fish through the use of fish oil as a major component of extruded aquafeeds. Around 10 years ago it became clear that demand for fish oil would rapidly outstrip supply, limiting expansion of aquaculture activities, if fish oil use was not reduced. The challenge this presented was that alternatives to fish oil lack omega-3 LC-PUFA. However, replacement of fish oil with more sustainable alternatives is now standard practice in the industry. Research into fish oil replacement and omega-3 metabolism in the Nutrition Group, Institute of Aquaculture has been at the forefront of the scientific research in the UK and Europe that has ensured nutritional quality of farmed fish by developing alternative feed ingredients and feeding strategies that have maintained levels of omega-3 LC-PUFA despite radical changes to feed composition driven by sustainability and food security. This work culminated with recent demonstrations that farmed salmon can be net producers of marine protein (2010) and oil (2011).
Between 1987 and 2011, the Fish group at Imperial College London assisted the Falkland Islands Government by providing fisheries management advice as well as delivering seasonal licencing and fee analyses which determined the number and type of fishing licences allocated to commercial vessels operating in Falkland waters. The work of the Fish group had unprecedented economic, commercial and environmental impacts on the Falkland Islands, where between 50% and 75% of the annual revenue required to fund all infrastructure, research and development in the Islands is generated by the £20M income from the sale of commercial fishing licences. In 2006, the Falkland Islands changed from a seasonal fishing licensing system to a rights-based management system of Individual Transferrable Quotas (ITQs) for fishing companies. The move to ITQs, which was recommended by the Fish Group, generated revenue of £9.5 million in 2010 and the system will remain in place until 2031. During a transition period between 2008 and 2011, the Fish Group supported the planned hand-over of licencing and fee responsibilities to the Falkland Island Fisheries Department which continues to use the bio-economic and stock assessment models developed by the Fish Group at Imperial for the sustainable management of marine resources.
Disease severely limits the expansion of aquaculture. Studies on the immune control of infection have led, in association with industry, to the promotion of disease control utilising 03b2-glucan feed supplements. Knowledge has, via Keele Water, informed infection control strategies used by UK fish farmers. Studies have provided a legacy of young scientists trained by industry and supported by European funding. Advances made have been embraced in the education of veterinarians in Germany and fish production in Eastern Europe. Close collaboration with government bodies and learned societies has ensured that the work has been recognised by policy makers within the fisheries sector.
Application of Bangor's DNA forensic research has had major impacts on the management and control of illegal wildlife trade. After initial work providing evidence for criminal prosecutions with wider deterrent effects on wildlife crime, Bangor-led research went on to apply these techniques to trace fish (products) to their source populations to ban illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing practices. Since 2009, this work has improved stock management by the UK government and European Commission, directly affected the Common Fisheries Policy reform and has been implemented by the Marine Stewardship Council as a verification tool for correct labelling of products.
Salmon maturation prior to harvest constitutes an environmental, welfare and production bottleneck for the salmon aquaculture industry. Our research has reduced the number of fish that mature during the grow-out phase so they do not reallocate energy to develop gonads and display secondary sexual characteristics that reduce yield, harvest quality and increase disease susceptibility that can result in downgrading at processing and lost profitability. In addition, reproductively competent fish that escape from on-growing cages may breed with wild stocks, leading to potential introgression. This has a major impact on public perception of farmed salmon and it limits the expansion of the industry. The IoA Reproduction team has undertaken a comprehensive body of work since 1993 to address this critical production bottleneck through an array of management strategies. This work culminated in the REF period by the demonstration that salmon puberty can be reduced to <3% by the use of standardised lighting regimes (2008) followed by the first commercial production of sterile salmon (2012-13).
Since 2008, the School of Environment & Life Sciences at the University of Salford has expanded its research in the field of population and conservation genetics, focusing on the application of molecular genetics and evolutionary theory on supporting the management of exploited living resources and conservation of endangered species and ecosystems. Molecular Ecology and Conservation demonstrates the following impact:
Increasing consumer awareness of the environmental implications of food choices, improving consumer confidence and food management policy, supporting environmental management and biodiversity, and guiding international conservation policy and management processes.
Over the past two decades, researchers at the Institute for the Environment (hereafter, the Institute) at Brunel University have generated substantive evidence supporting the case for regulation of discharges of pharmaceuticals into rivers and estuaries throughout Europe and for improved sewage treatment, with significant implications for water quality, aquatic life and public confidence. Their research has led to improved sewage treatment in some countries and to changes in the European Water Framework Directive (WFD; the primary legislation for protecting and conserving European water bodies), such that regulatory limits for environmental concentrations of the contraceptive pill hormones, ethinylestradiol and oestradiol, are now included in River Basin Management Plans for 2015. In 2011, a Queen's Anniversary Trust Prize was awarded to Brunel University in recognition of the Institute's considerable success in translating this research into European policy, also influencing countries outside Europe.
This research programme has provided convincing evidence that fish perceive pain and has been instrumental in directly informing changes to experimental protocols and influencing welfare guidelines.
We use fish in a variety of ways — for food, farming, experimentation, as public exhibits, in recreational angling and as pets. Many of the procedures that fish are subjected to cause tissue damage that would give rise to the sensation of pain in mammals. This research programme uses techniques in neurobiology, physiology and animal behaviour to discover how the fish are affected by these procedures. This has not only improved the welfare of fish, but also influenced how the public views these animals through media dissemination.
In July 2011, a fish disease simulator developed in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Liverpool was installed on computers at the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas), an executive agency of the UK government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Since this date, the simulator has significantly improved the capability available to Cefas for understanding the likely spread of infectious diseases in the aquaculture industry of England and Wales, and enabled the optimisation of methods for the prevention and control of outbreaks. Specifically, a user-friendly interface enables Cefas to focus on particular diseases of concern, understand their specific pattern of spread and optimise methods for their control. The simulator is currently being used to develop contingency planning for outbreaks.