The University of Stirling has received a GBP 2.7 million (USD 3.6 million, EUR 3.1 million) grant for a project that aims to improve farmed fish welfare in Southeast Asia.
The grant, given by Open Philanthropy, will build on previous work by the university on the welfare of farmed fish in Thailand and Vietnam and expands the project into Indonesia. Through the program, the university will run workshops and perform outreach activities with both academics and aquaculture practitioners – along with six Masters students – to increase local knowledge of aquaculture practices and enhance fish welfare.
“Across Asia, there are serious welfare issues that affect millions of aquatic animals, and there is an urgent need to drive change. In addition, there is very little awareness about the importance of improving the situation, and we believe that projects such as this can help to change that,” University of Sterling Professor Dave Little said in a release.
Little said the research will build on the University of Sterling’s prior work on animal welfare in Southeast Asia – a region where farmed fish is an important part of local diets.
“Understanding consumers' and other stakeholders’ perceptions is critical to improving practices throughout the value chain by identifying and targeting areas that could improve welfare the most,” Little said. “In the first project, we identified harvest through to slaughter as being critical points where practice could most effectively be improved.”
Little will work alongside Simão Zacarias, the winner of the 2020 Global Aquaculture Innovation award and a leading expert on shrimp eyestalk ablation and shrimp welfare.
Open Philanthropy Farm Animal Welfare Program Associate Michelle Lavery said the program has already seen results from the university’s work over the past three years – which was also funded in part by Open Philanthropy.
“This kind of field-building and industry-facing groundwork is important for fish welfare now and into the future,” Lavery said.
The University of Stirling also said that work on its National Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Hub (NATIH) is moving closer to completion. The new facility was funded as part of the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal, a broader GBP 90.2 million (USD 121.1 million, EUR 104 million) investment by the U.K. government.
