Khadiga Gaafar
Prof of Endocrinology,
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science (email)
Recently in Egypt, there was particular attention given to fish welfare. Many water bodies cover Egypt; the Nile River is the main bloodline, in addition to many fresh as well as salty lakes. Nearly 2.5 million fish species are being used in scientific research representing 94% of all research animals. The new 2014 Egyptian Constitution stated that fish resources are to be preserved and fish under the threat of extinction are to be protected. Although there are legislation for farmed animals and wildlife in both the Environmental and Agriculture laws, there are none concerning fish. Since the application of animal welfare guidelines has recently been implemented by the IACUC in Faculty of Science, Cairo University to gain its approval for scientific protocols, a need to investigate the extent of fish welfare awareness and international guidelines application in protocols using fish as research models was revealed.