New Report Published on Key Welfare Recommendations for Marine Capture Fisheries

A new report released by the Aquatic Life Institute identifies major welfare issues in capture fisheries and proposes key recommendations.

The Aquatic Life Institute (ALI) released a new report, Key Welfare Recommendations for Marine Capture Fisheries, highlighting major welfare issues that take place in wild capture fisheries. Intended for fisheries management practitioners, fishing industry actors, global certification bodies and other relevant decision-makers, the report urges the adoption of an animal welfare-based approach (WBA) to fisheries management policies and fishing practices.

The report identifies five priority areas during the fishing process in which poor animal welfare issues are widespread and significant: 1) capture and retrieval, 2) onboard handling, 3) stunning and slaughter, 4) incidental catch of non-target species (e.g., bycatch), and 5) abandoned fishing gear (e.g., ghost gear). Welfare issues experienced in capture fisheries include injury, exhaustion, thermal shock, barometric trauma, mutilation, and death by asphyxiation. To put the scale of this suffering into perspective, an estimated two to three trillion aquatic animals are caught at sea on an annual basis; 35 times more than the number of land animals killed for food.

To address these points of poor welfare, the authors introduce the concept of an ‘animal welfare-based approach’ to capture fisheries – where the key factor to consider when creating fisheries management policies, retrofitting fishing vessels, and designing new fishing technology, is the potential impact on the welfare of the animals in question. 

“Welfare in capture fisheries is a completely new concept, even among dedicated fisheries management professionals. However, we have a moral and in many cases, legal obligation, to look after these animals as we do for land animals. It is also in the interest of the fishing sector itself to minimize the suffering inflicted on aquatic animals as much as possible, given the growing consumer awareness around animal welfare and the fact that the long-term viability of the fisheries sector depends on healthy fish populations,” notes one of the report’s authors, Christine Xu.

Importantly, the authors acknowledge that there exists a large scientific knowledge gap around how to achieve good animal welfare in capture fisheries. Therefore, in order to accelerate the adoption of humane capture and slaughter techniques in fisheries, “more research and financial support by all relevant stakeholders is needed, including developing ‘welfare-minded’ fishing gear, refining current fishing durations and speeds, scaling up humane stunning and slaughter onboard, and limiting the indirect effects of fishing on non-target animals,” says Wasseem Emam, one of the report’s authors.

“While we recognize that knowledge gaps exist, our report lists various actionable steps that can already be taken. Furthermore, we showcase several examples of existing good welfare practices in the fishing industry so we know that it can be done,” adds Emam. 

Wild-caught aquatic animals are the last remaining major food-producing sector that does not take animal welfare into consideration. However, upcoming revisions of standards, including the Marine Stewardship Council and Best Seafood Practices (Global Seafood Alliance), provide a timely opportunity to change this. The authors hope that these and other global eco-labelling schemes will soon take the difficult but necessary step of requiring high welfare standards in certifying fisheries as ‘sustainable’.

The summary report is available here and the full report can be accessed here. The report has been endorsed by the 87 organizations listed below.

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About the Aquatic Life Institute (ALI)

The overarching aim of ALI is to expedite, support and direct the nascent aquatic animal welfare movement while researching and focusing on the highest impact welfare interventions to positively impact the lives of all aquatic animals. 

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This piece was prepared online by Panuruji Kenta, Publisher, SEVENSEAS Media