Summary
Decapod Crustacean sentience has taken the spotlight as one of the most recent debated topics within Animal Welfare. The latest working document of the European Parliament (Committee on Fisheries) revises the protection of animals during transport and related operations (EC, 2024). The new regulation intends to cover aquatic animals (fish, cephalopods and decapod crustaceans) to be protected just during transport. Though this could be a start point on improving welfare of commercialized decapod crustaceans, there are still other aspects to improve and the path to achieve this is through sentience sentence. Sentience (the capacity to experience emotions) has sparked a heated debate across multiple disciplines, particularly as it could impact several major sectors such as fisheries and aquaculture. The outdated argument that animals do not experience negative emotions (such as pain) because they lack conscience, has been proven wrong for some invertebrates, but remains controversial for crustaceans. There is evidence of criteria consistent with the idea of pain, as crustaceans have and activate nociceptive pathways. Still, there is no evidence of the neural pathways integrating the responses nor the demonstration of awareness after that. This is partly due to the dispersed central nervous system that these animals present, with multiple ganglia, but no brain as a focal point. To overcome this, we are working in a research consortium (ICM, WUR and SLU) to develop a reliable electroencephalogram (EEG) protocol in crustaceans. This could be the first step towards a proper sentience characterization. Studies will focus on neurophysiology and behaviour to asses consciousness and ways to minimise pain and distress in different practices, as well as before killing. The ultimate goal of the studies outcome is to influence both policymakers and industry. For the former, a clear sentence on the sentience of decapods and its implications; while for the later we expect to collaborate to validate practices and avoid socio-economical impacts.
Brief biography
Rodrigo Lorenzo is a crustacean physiologist with experience in promoting research-informed innovative industrial practices. He is pursuing to advance in his scientific career with a European project and a MSCA on a research topic that has fascinated him since the beginning of his career: Crustacean sentience. He has expertise in working with several crustacean species, conducting physiological experiments aimed at testing innovative industrial practices, which trained him both in seafood product acceptability and animal’s stress responses. The challenge now resides in the developing of the scientific-backed data that convince policymakers to emend current legislation.