WG4: Cephalopod Welfare

facilitating and promoting cephalopods’ welfare

The main aim of the COST Action FA1301 WG4 is to provide a collaborative framework for increasing knowledge on biological, physiological and behavioral aspects of cephalopods’ welfare.

The acquisition of this knowledge serves also as background for a better understanding of the ‘needs’ (and the relative requirements) of cephalopod species in relation to their welfare as applied to scientific research, aquaculture, public displays and educational settings.

Our approach is based on a close interaction with scientific activities belonging to other FA1301 Working Groups and on a in-depth analysis of scientific evidences provided by published works including technical reports and data surveys.

We also aim to promote:

novel research aimed to disclose the biological basis underlying welfare in cephalopods

the development of new technologies and experimental approaches, including the development of methodologies for non-invasive experimental practices and of alternatives, thus to promote the 3Rs principle

We also are committed to the application of the principles set in the Directive 2010/63/EU towards the definition of appropriate indications that may serve as guidance and assistance for a prospective severity assessment of procedures applied to cephalopods, in order to facilitate the improvement of the ‘quality of science’ and the ultimate animal welfare in the context of cephalopod science.

CephsInAction WG4 objectives can be summarized as:

1. Characterization of basic, biological, physiological and behavioural needs of cephalopods to define the best physiological “markers” of pain, suffering, disease, and more in general welfare status

2. Providing an objectively-based prospective severity classification of procedures (within the meaning of Directive 2010/63/EU) for cephalopods which can be used to inform project applications to the National Competent Authorities

3. Development of an overall assessment of welfare (OWA); a systematic attempt to assess the welfare status of animals based on observations of their behavioral habits, biological and physical environmental requirements/needs

One of the key expected deliverables of the COST Action FA1301 WG4 is the development of a Cephalopod Welfare Index database aimed to support the Cephalopod Welfare Index (CWI) Model: an operational, internet based decision support system based on a semantic model aimed for monitoring and assessing cephalopod welfare.

CWI rely on the CWI-database including scientific statements, their link to cephalopod needs and to the indicators/attributes including scores and weighting factors.

CephsInAction CWI Database is currently open for contributions.

CWI Model is based on the principles that we as community are called to develop a tool to perform Overall Welfare Assessment (OWA), as stated in FA1301-MoU.

Developing a formalised assessment of animal welfare based on the meaning (i.e. semantics) of available scientific information about the cephalopods’ basic needs and how these are related to animal welfare is a mandatory task of CephsInAction.

WG4 is calling for your help and contribution to this important achievement!

A short guidance for the principles and use of the CWI database is available here!

One of our current initiatives relate with the development of a Prospective Severity Assessment of procedures in Cephalopods (PAS-C) aimed to derive a prospective severity classification of procedures (within the meaning of Directive 2010/63/EU) for cephalopods which can be used to facilitate and to act as reference for project applications to the National Competent Authorities.
The PAS-C initiative is coordinated by a small group of our COST FA1301 members.