Anaesthesia during fish handling and sampling reduces stress and injury risk significantly. Understanding best practice anaesthesia protocols improves welfare in aquaculture operations.
Anaesthesia for fish handling represents a welfare advance that is adoption-ready but not yet universal in aquaculture. Repeated handling without anaesthesia causes repeated acute stress responses that cumulatively impair immune function and growth. The welfare case for routine anaesthesia during sampling, vaccination and health checks is strong. Regulatory requirements for anaesthesia during more invasive procedures are established in some jurisdictions and should be extended.