Operculum PIT tagging: a viable alternative to avoid human consumption in processed salmon

Passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags are commonly used to identify individual fish. However, use of PIT tags in commercial aquaculture research is limited by consumer safety concerns. For farmed fish, it is critical that tags do not end up in the final product. One possibility to enable the use...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animal Biotelemetry
Main Authors: Oldham, Tina Marie Wier, Macaulay, Georgia, Stalheim, Malin, Oppedal, Frode
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2787485
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40317-021-00261-z
Description
Summary:Passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags are commonly used to identify individual fish. However, use of PIT tags in commercial aquaculture research is limited by consumer safety concerns. For farmed fish, it is critical that tags do not end up in the final product. One possibility to enable the use of PIT tags in commercial research is to insert tags into a part of the body that will be separated from the trunk during processing. We compare tag loss, mortality rate and welfare scores between Atlantic salmon post-smolts (n = 798) marked with PIT tags either in the operculum musculature or the abdominal cavity (standard practice) before and after mechanical delousing. publishedVersion