Greetings,
This past month we've begun recruiting candidates for our Fish Welfare Scoping Contractor roles, continued accepting applicants for our Director of Country Operations role, published a blog post about our collaboration with The Aquatic Life Institute, and published several new research pieces, including:
But before we continue with our updates this month, we want to address the movement against police brutality happening in the United States.
We have watched with horror and disgust these last few weeks as George Floyd was murdered on camera by the very police tasked with protecting him and others. And then again as the ensuing protests were met with the very police brutality they were protesting against.
Floyd’s death is part of the US’s historic and unbroken pattern of systemic racism and police brutality, particularly against the Black community.
We support those protesting, and support work to reform our systemically racist system. While we are not experts on this, we encourage you to read some institutional and personal ways of doing this from those who are.
Why should you be hearing this from a fish welfare charity? As Martin Luther King wrote, decrying the complacency of white moderates in his time, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." This complacency is still very much alive and well today.
We aim to bring about a better world for all, and we stand with any and all efforts to do so.
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New Job Opportunity: Fish Welfare Scoping Contractor
As we continue to assess what fish welfare work will look like in various countries, we are looking for individuals to conduct temporary scoping research in one or more of the following countries: Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, and Taiwan.
This position is a good fit for early- to mid-career generalists, who have some experience in the animal movement.
Please consider forwarding this position to someone you know who may be a good fit.
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New Research: Why fish welfare, species prioritization, and Atlantic salmon
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In our recent report, written by guest contributor Mark Borthwick, we highlight the various welfare issues involved with salmon aquaculture. Sea lice are one such issue that the industry has been unable to control: for instance, 48% of Scottish salmon farms reported serious sea lice issues in 2017. Photo: A farmed salmon which is infested with sea lice (source).
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We recently published three research pieces:
Why care about fish welfare?
Unfortunately, ethics alone is not usually a sufficient reason to get institutions to care about fish (or other animal) welfare. This webpage lays out why improved welfare is good for business, consumers, and the environment. We hope it can be a resource to other organizations working on fish welfare.
Prioritizing Fish Species for Effective Welfare Improvements
With the wide array of fish species humans farm, this report responds to the question “Which species should we prioritize?” particularly in an Asian context. We found that Catla, Rohu, Striped Catfish, Nile Tilapia, Milkfish, and Torpedo-Shaped Catfish are particularly promising to work on, and we outline a process for future species prioritization work.
Welfare Issues in Farmed Atlantic Salmon
Salmon may be a promising species to prioritize, given that it's widely farmed in countries with established animal movements, suffers from a myriad of welfare issues, and is marketed as a higher-end seafood product. This report outlines the welfare issues salmon face.
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Collaboration between Fish Welfare Initiative and The Aquatic Life Institute
Likely more than 100 billion fish are farmed globally each year. Several trillion more fish are caught from the wild annually. These numbers are staggering and represent the enormous scale of suffering that these industries produce.
Recently, two EA-aligned organizations have been created with the sole focus of improving the lives of aquatic species: The Aquatic Life Institute and ourselves, Fish Welfare Initiative.
We (both The Aquatic Life Institute and Fish Welfare Initiative) believe there is ample room for two complementary organizations in this space, and we in fact hope to see many more organizations coordinating into a fish welfare movement.
Read more about our collaboration and unique approaches in this post.
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Other News in Fish Welfare
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If you have any thoughts, questions, or comments, we'd love to hear from you – just respond to this email.
Thanks for all you do to make our world better for everyone, no exceptions.
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Cheers,
Haven King-Nobles
Director of Operations
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