On Monday 15th September 2025, Simão Zacarias attended a workshop on “Animal Welfare and Environmental Sustainability in Seafood Production” held at the Royal Veterinary College, University of London. The workshop was funded by the Animal Welfare Research Network (AWRN).

Aims and objectives

The aim of the workshop was set out as follows; “‘To save the planet, we should all be eating more seafood’. This recommendation, known as the ‘blue transformation’ has increasingly been amplified by academics, NGOs, and IGOs alike. However, trillions of aquatic animals are already farmed each year and face severe welfare issues. There are also numerous environmental concerns associated with seafood production. Limited discussion of the trade-offs between climate change mitigation and animal welfare exists in the literature, and even less is known about potential ‘win-win’ strategies to address these issues. This modified Delphi consultation will bring together animal welfare and environmental scientists, NGOs, governmental organisations, and industry professionals to:

identify and rank the most pressing environmental and animal welfare concerns in seafood production
discuss possible ‘win-win’ solutions to these problems
identify the research, policy, and funding targets with the greatest potential impact.”

activities and outcomes

An overview of animal welfare and environmental concerns in aquaculture and fisheries was presented and then group discussions to address the questions listed above.

There was wide concensus that any potential solutions will be regional, species and system specific. In addition, there is a knowledge gap on how “win-win” solution can be achieved.