Animal welfare risks of global aquaculture

Abstract

The unprecedented growth of aquaculture involves well-documented environmental and public-health costs, but less is understood about global animal welfare risks. Integrating data from multiple sources, we estimated the taxonomic diversity of farmed aquatic animals, the number of individuals killed annually, and the species-specific welfare knowledge (absence of which indicates extreme risk). In 2018, FAO reported 82.12 million metric tons of farmed aquatic animals from six phyla and at least 408 species—20 times the number of species of farmed terrestrial animals. The farmed aquatic animal tonnage represents 250 to 408 billion individuals, of which 59 to 129 billion are vertebrates (e.g., carps, salmonids). Specialized welfare information was available for 84 species, only 30% of individuals; the remaining 70% either had no welfare publications or were of an unknown species. With aquaculture growth outpacing welfare knowledge, immediate efforts are needed to safeguard the welfare of high-production, understudied species and to create policies that minimize welfare risks.

Qualitative Behavioral Assessment in Juvenile Farmed Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar): Potential for On-Farm Welfare Assessment

“…Using all such development avenues, QBA descriptor lists and dimensions can be further validated and tested for efficacy. Given the growth of aquaculture globally and the large number of species and individual fish involved ( 4 ), there is a need to develop reliable tools for monitoring fish welfare (including positive welfare), that can inform guidance and legislation to meet the species-specific needs of fish.…”

“…These systems will impact fish welfare in different ways, exposing them to different stress challenges and hazards, and presenting the risk that the animals' environmental and behavioral needs, both at individual and group level, are not met ( 3 ). Given the rapid increase in aquaculture production and the range of species now farmed, there is thus an urgent need to address the welfare of farmed fish, and, as with other farmed animal species, to develop methods that monitor the different species' needs ( 4 ).…”

Evolving Perspectives of Stewardship in the Seafood Industry

“…Research underscoring sentience and the ability to feel pain within marine species targeted by seafood producers has led, among other things, to recent calls to ban octopus aquaculture and electric pulse fishing (Browman et al, 2019;Jacquet et al, 2019). At the same time, while aquaculture has rapidly expanded to include at least 408 species (FAO, 2020), specialized welfare information is only available for 84 of these (Franks et al, 2021), pointing to a vast gray area at the core of seafood production. Yet perceptions of animal welfare are not universal, and represent a dynamic and evolving aspect of what constitutes sustainable and ethical seafood.…”

Causal Relations of Upscaled Urban Aquaponics and the Food-Water-Energy Nexus—A Berlin Case Study

“…Fisheries have already reached their limits [9] and the increase in fish consumption over the past four decades is mainly covered by aquaculture, which is the world's fastestgrowing food production industry [10]. This growth involves environmental problems and animal welfare risks [11]. In 2000, a study concluded that aquaculture needs to reduce wild fish inputs into feed [12].…”