我要吃瓜

Dr Adam Brooker

Research Fellow

Institute of Aquaculture Pathfoot Building, 我要吃瓜, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Dr Adam Brooker

Contact details

Share a link

http://www.stir.ac.uk/people/ajbrooker

我要吃瓜 me

I am a Research Fellow in the Breeding and Physiology research group at the Institute of Aquaculture. I have been researching and working at the 我要吃瓜 since 2001 when I was awarded an MSc with distinction in Aquaculture and in 2008 a PhD in Aquatic Veterinary Studies. Since then, I have focussed my research on aquatic animal behaviour through working on a wide range of research projects in aquaculture.

My current research involves improving farmed cleaner fish stocks (ballan wrasse and lumpfish) for better welfare, survival and delousing efficiency in salmon net pens. Since 2016, I have led several project work packages in cleaner fish behaviour and cage management, and I am currently co-investigator for two projects investigating cleaner fish and salmon behaviour in commercial net pens. A primary focus of my work is using hydroacoustics to study the behaviour of tagged fish within a hydrophone array.

I come from a background of environmental science and marine biology having graduated from the University of Southampton with a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science in 1995.

Event / Presentation

Optimising the delousing performance of farmed ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) by acclimation to net-pen conditions. Aquaculture Europe 17
European Aquaculture Society

Other Project

Discrimination learning and its application in lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) delousing behaviour
我要吃瓜

The project is a first step towards understanding whether training protocols used in comparative psychology can encourage delousing behaviour in farmed lumpfish (i.e. whether lumpfish na?ve to salmon and sea lice can be trained to delouse salmon). The project will examine whether lumpfish can be trained to discriminate between two ecologically valid visual stimuli, a fake-model salmon with sea lice and one without lice.

Research (1)

The primary drivers of my research are environmental conservation/sustainability and animal welfare. The oceans are one of our greatest global resources and only by working together with all stakeholders and in harmony with nature can we expect to achieve sustainable development.

Behaviour is a key indicator of animal welfare, and I am interested in how it can be observed in cultured aquatic species as an insight into their welfare status and also to facilitate/utilise natural behaviours. Parasites are an important component of aquatic food webs, and I am interested in how they can be better managed in aquaculture to achieve more efficient, sustainable and high-welfare food production systems. My current work combines these interests to utilise a natural behaviour in cleaner fish (delousing) as a biological control of sea lice in salmon farming.

Projects

CLEANGAIN: Improved welfare and delousing of farmed cleaner fish
PI: Dr Adam Brooker
Funded by: Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre and Loch Duart Ltd
–

Outputs (18)

Outputs

Review

A gap analysis on modelling of sea lice infection pressure from salmonid farms: (II) Identifying and ranking knowledge gaps: output of an international workshop

Murphy JM, Moriarty M, Brooker AJ, Waites W, Revie C, Adams TP, Lewis M, Reinardy HC, Phelan JP, Coyle JP, Rabe B, Ives SC, Armstrong JD, Sandvik AD & Asplin L (2024) A gap analysis on modelling of sea lice infection pressure from salmonid farms: (II) Identifying and ranking knowledge gaps: output of an international workshop [Sea lice gap analysis]. Aquaculture Environment Interactions, 16, pp. 27-42. https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00471

Article

Pre-deployment acclimatisation of farmed ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) to sea-cage conditions promotes behaviour analogous to wild conspecifics when used as cleaner fish in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) farms

Brooker AJ, Davie A, Leclercq E, Zerafa B & Migaud H (2020) Pre-deployment acclimatisation of farmed ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) to sea-cage conditions promotes behaviour analogous to wild conspecifics when used as cleaner fish in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) farms. Aquaculture, 520, Art. No.: 734771. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2019.734771

Conference Paper (unpublished)

Optimising the delousing performance of farmed ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) by acclimation to net-pen conditions

Brooker A, Davie A & Migaud H (2017) Optimising the delousing performance of farmed ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) by acclimation to net-pen conditions. Aquaculture Europe 17, Dubrovnik, 17.10.2017-20.10.2017. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320923247_Optimising_the_delousing_performance_of_farmed_ballan_wrasse_Labrus_bergylta_by_acclimation_to_net-pen_conditions

Article

An assessment of the potential for zoonotic parasitic nematode infections arising from the consumption of maricultured Atlantic halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus (L.), and rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), in Scotland

Brooker A, Wootten R, Shinn A & Bron J (2016) An assessment of the potential for zoonotic parasitic nematode infections arising from the consumption of maricultured Atlantic halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus (L.), and rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), in Scotland. Food Control, 66, pp. 198-204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2016.02.011

Other

Economic impacts of aquatic parasites on global finfish production

Shinn A, Pratoomyot J, Bron J, Paladini G, Brooker EE & Brooker A (2015) Economic impacts of aquatic parasites on global finfish production. Global Aquaculture Advocate, September/October 2015, pp. 58-61. http://pdf.gaalliance.org/pdf/GAA-Shinn-Sept15.pdf

Teaching

I have supervised BSc final year projects in Aquaculture and supervise MSc projects in Sustainable Aquaculture and Aquatic Veterinary Studies. I also lecture in the MSc Advanced Parasitology module.

Research programmes

Research themes