Routine handling events during Mediterranean sea bass and sea bream production impose significant but reducible welfare costs through improved technique and equipment.
Each handling event in sea bass and sea bream production imposes a welfare cost that accumulates across a production cycle. Fish that are repeatedly crowded, pumped, graded, and transferred experience repeated immune suppression and physiological disturbance. Low-stress handling protocols — working in the cool of early morning, minimizing crowding duration, using fine-mesh nets that reduce scale abrasion, and limiting air exposure — reduce cortisol responses and improve post-handling recovery. The economic incentive to minimize handling aligns with welfare: handled fish grow slower, get sick more, and die more often. Reducing handling frequency and improving technique is both welfare and business sense.