A team from the University of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture has won further support from Coefficient Giving (https://coefficientgiving.
The objective is to build a network that engages academics and supports them building research consortia with other stakeholders. The heart of the project is to provide small grants to such consortia that develop proposals around priority issues to improve welfare of fish along the supply chains that take them from the farm to consumers’ plates (https://www.susaquastirling.
But what is fish welfare, why is it important and where does it fit in the landscape of Asia’s diverse and rapidly changing aquaculture sector?
Framing local understandings of fish welfare has been a key starting point since our very first meetings with academics and other stakeholders around Asia. This remains a work in progress as the implications of what it is, and how it intersects with broader responsible and ethical food production, emerge. Simplistically a high level of welfare means the animals we farm experience a good life and a good death but of course ‘good’ can take many meanings and context is critical.
Professor Dave Little, Professor of Aquatic Resources and Development , University of Stirling, said:
“We start from the position that, as with other quality functions, we can always improve but that any change can incur costs but also deliver hitherto unknown benefits. Some of these can be financial but there are many other motivations that impact on how animals are raised for human use.
“The ‘why’ becomes critical for any sustained change in practice. When formalised improved farming practices for Atlantic salmon were developed almost two decades ago, they set out to achieve key improvements in the condition of the fish during their time in sea cages and a quick, pain free slaughter process. The now considerable research underpinning such changes demonstrated more efficient and profitable outcomes from higher welfare practices — a clear win-win.”
The approach is not to impose species-specific welfare improvements from outside Asia but rather to support their informed development within the region. For this to be achieved, it’s likely that a One Welfare approach will be needed i.e. rather than viewing improving the welfare of aquatic animals in isolation, complementarities and trade-offs with benefits to people and the environment are considered. In contrast to most initiatives to date, our project has been taking both a full value chain approach and embracing interdisciplinarity.
Little added,
“Our first phase confirmed that priorities for research often lay outside the culture unit and elsewhere along the supply chain, and equally that a technical-first, or technical-only approach was inadequate to the challenge of diagnosing key issues, their origins, and pathways to improved practice.”
Improving fish welfare will ideally result in better outcomes for people, especially those engaged in their production and sale, but also for the immediate and wider environments that support them.
