Safeguarding the many guises of farmed fish welfare

There has been a great deal of debate and sometimes open hostility between people with differing approaches to the welfare of farmed animals, but relatively little progress towards compromise or consensus. It has been suggested that progress has been inhibited by a fundamental lack of common ground; people are debating different questions. Compromise or consensus can only be achieved through understanding and this in turn requires effective presentation of information and constructive dialogue. In this paper we adapt a previously published framework to present and evaluate information relevant to a wide range of definitions of fish welfare. Through improved understanding we will increase our capacity to safeguard many aspects of welfare of farmed fish, satisfying the demands of more but not all stakeholders.