Members of the Global Coalition for Animal Welfare convened for their quarterly all-member meeting on 20 November 2024.
GCAW’s animal welfare specialist Dr Heleen van de Weerd presented a comprehensive update on welfare matters concerning fish and seafood species.
She began by highlighting the magnitude of the industry, noting that approximately 180 million tonnes of wild and farmed fish is processed annually, contributing roughly half of total global food product export value. The sector is in growth, fuelled in particular by increased demand for farmed fish (aquaculture).
In line with GCAW’s Approach to Animal Welfare, Heleen presented how the six key aspects of animal welfare – breed, housing, husbandry, health, transport and slaughter – apply to fish and seafood species. While production systems vary considerably from one species to another, there are welfare risks across all six aspects. Dr van de Weerd presented the most common welfare issues and currently available ways to mitigate these.
Dr Nathan Rhys Williams, Secretariat, followed with an overview of how companies in the food industry are addressing fish and seafood welfare through corporate policies and involvement in other supply chain initiatives. He noted that the majority of current assurance schemes are focused on sustainability of supply as opposed to animal welfare although, encouragingly, an increasing number of assurance schemes are incorporating specific welfare criteria.
GCAW Chair, Brian Lindsay, thanked Dr van de Weerd and Dr Williams for their insights and led a productive question and answer session.
