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Fish Welfare Initiative May Updates

Hello,

Over the past months, we have been working with farmers in India. Our local team has visited over 120 farms so far and met with six government officials, including the ED of the National Fisheries Development Board! Due to Covid we had to scale these in-person interactions down a lot as cases soared in India, but we are continuing to reach out to industry representatives via phone and online.

Visiting farmers helps us raise awareness of the importance of fish welfare. After they see how common practices infringe welfare, some farmers are ready to make a change – these are the ones we will partner with to move towards higher welfare practices.

Our partner farmer Siva Prasad's pond in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Moving from farmed to aquarium fish, I want to share a beautiful video with you. It shows how giving fish attention and good care allows them to thrive! This fish truly is a phoenix rising from the ashes.

Watch Monstro's Transformation

Stay safe and healthy!

Jennifer-Justine Kirsch
Research and Project Strategist

New Team Members

This month we welcome two talented advocates to our team. John is now our India Fish Welfare Expert and will supervise the technical aspects of our work. And Vivek is our new Aquaculture Program Coordinator helping to run our ground operations in India.

Our Team

How Not to Survey Producers

We believe it’s important to really understand aquaculture practices, especially from the producer’s perspective, before working to improve fish welfare. With this in mind, we attempted a small project to test whether cold emailing is an effective avenue for reaching out to producers.

At least in Vietnam, the 5th largest producer of farmed fish globally, it seems cold emailing is not (at least not without further incentive). Learn more about our lesson learned in our recent blog post.

Blog Post: Lessons learned from our Vietnam email farm survey

Other News in Fish Welfare

Indian fish farms are expected to produce almost ⅔ of fish in India by 2030.
Investigation into the Scottish Salmon industry by Animal Equality and Compassion in World Farming.
Controversial thermal delousing will continue in Norway.
1.2 trillion fish are used for fish feed production every year.
The EU Parliament Fisheries Committee committed to launching a study on fish welfare.
MyFishCheck: A new model to assess fish welfare in aquaculture.
Tesco and Hilton Seafood committed to improving slaughter of whiteleg shrimp.

Upcoming Fish Welfare Events

An Aquaculture Veterinarian's Insights on Animal Welfare, May 4
Planting the Animal Welfare Seed in EU - India Trade Relations, May 6
Advancements in Humane Slaughter, May 11
Training Law Students to Litigate for Farmed Animals, May 15
International Ballan Wrasse Conference, May 27
Save the date: Panel discussion on ornamental fish trade, biodiversity, and fish welfare, June 8

Know of other upcoming events? Feel free to send them over, and we'll include them next time.

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