New funding from Open Philanthropy will enable the Institute of Aquaculture to build on the successes of the “Improving Farmed Fish Welfare in Asia” Project which was also funded by Open Philanthropy between 2022 and 2025. That project combined research, training and outreach which created foundational knowledge of the current perceptions and attitudes of stakeholders, identified major welfare areas requiring further research and policy development, and started to build an Asian Fish Welfare Network.
Harvesting and transport have been identified as hotspots for better welfare management
The new project aims to continue that network building with further knowledge and capacity building activities and will be implemented for 3 years from August 2025. Indonesia, which is another globally important fish farming producer will be added to Thailand and Vietnam as focus countries. There will also be outreach to other Asian countries (e.g. China, Philippines, Japan, Bangladesh) when organizing network annual meetings and workshops.
The “Improving Farmed Fish Welfare in Asia” Project supported several stakeholder and training workshops
The broad aim of this new phase is to support improvement of stakeholder's perceptions and attitudes toward fish welfare, develop an expanding evidence base through collaborative research programmes, and provide support on skills development through studentships, mentorship and exchange programs. Specific objectives include a focus on how fish welfare is related to other sustainability issues, the simulation of practical behaviour changes, and expansion of the knowledge resource base with training manuals and targeted welfare management guidelines.
Dr Simão Zacarias and Prof. Dave Little with project funded MSc students Nghĩa Phan & Arnan Hirunratanakorn
Professor Dave Little will lead the project, working alongside Simão Zacarias as Project and Research Coordinator and John Bostock, who will provide support with communications and educational material. MSc scholarship opportunities at the Institute of Aquaculture are available immediately for suitable candidates from Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand and a new programme of research and collaboration support will follow later this year.
See our Asia Fish Welfare Network web pages for further information and updates.