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Article History

Received: 8 December 2021

Accepted: 16 August 2022

First Online: 26 August 2022

Declarations

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: The hatchery in Älvkarleby runs according to a verdict from a Swedish Land and Environment Court, the purpose is to compensate for the loss of natural salmonid production due to the hydroelectrically power plant. The hatchery, its results and the health of fish, are surveyed by Fishery Investigation Board (Fiskeutredningsgruppen). Inspectors visit the hatchery each year and check the condition of the reared fish, noting such things as fish length, weight, fin erosion, other injuries and signs of diseases. The hatchery rearing and the stocking of fish is not regarded as animal experimentation according to Swedish legislation; thus, no ethical permit is needed for the hatchery. Nevertheless, the hatchery has to follow the Swedish regulation regarding aquaculture (SJVFS 2019:6) as well as EU Commission regulation No 710/2009. The fish are anaesthetized with tricaine methanesulphonate before being handled for the artificial spawning process. After this, as is standard practice, fish were either euthanized by brain destruction when still anaesthetized or allowed to recover and thereafter returned to the river.

: Not applicable.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.