Farmed fish pathology: quality aspects.

The increase in fish demand has caused a proportional increase in the fishing effort but, because of over-fishing and the consequent decrease in fish stocks, annual world catches are actually diminishing. Aquaculture has therefore registered an exponential increase, in order to at least partially satisfy the supply deficit. Farmed fish can be harvested at will, enabling at least in theory, peak condition and the production of uniform and superior product (Roberts, 2001). Moreover, this implies the solving of many husbandry problems, one of which is fish pathology and its impact on fish quality. The aim of our survey was to evaluate the consequences on fish quality of several pathologies observed in farmed fish in the market.