Dr. Albin Gräns, Research Advisor

In his research, Dr. Gräns tries to identify and provide solutions for the welfare challenges in fisheries and aquaculture by comprehensively evaluating the effects of anthropogenic and/or environmental stressors on the physiology, health and welfare of fish. Two factors that makes the research activities of Dr. Gräns and his research group stand out above others is: 1) the state-of-the-art methodologies that he has developed, validated and successfully used, and 2) the combination of laboratory and field studies to evaluate fish welfare. In the laboratory investigations, they focus on tasks such as identifying and evaluating the cause and effect of stress in general, assessing different methods used to capture, handle, stun and kill fish, and optimizing and validating novel technology for remote physiological monitoring of fish. The outcomes of these investigations are then applied in the field to provide more realistic findings that are often impossible to obtain purely in the laboratory. With this mode of operation and through our collaborations with commercial fishermen, fish farmers and private companies we can test, compare and refine different fishing gears, farm practices, equipment and rearing systems in unique ways. Dr. Gräns currently leads his team at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Sweden with the overarching aim to help commercial fish farmers and fishing fleets develop suitable and reliable humane methods in their farms or on their vessels, respectively, which can safeguard the welfare of fish worldwide.