Catch Welfare Platform – Developing Innovations in Catch Welfare in Commercial Fisheries
Global commercial wild-capture fisheries currently produce around 90-100 million tonnes of catch annually, which translates to approximately 0.79 to 2.3 trillion wild aquatic animals.
Although there is substantial scientific evidence showing that commercial fishing practices can cause severe stress and injury to both retained and released animals and four out of five seafood consumers think that aquatic animals deserve the same protection as other production animals 1, catch welfare remains under-researched and is rarely a priority in fisheries management.
However, growing evidence suggests that adopting welfare-responsible fishing practices can lead to improvements in sustainability, product quality, shelf-life, and the ethical reputation of the fishing industry. To expedite this transition, the Catch Welfare Platform has been established, aiming to improve the welfare of aquatic animals throughout the entire capture process, including post-capture slaughter.
Key challenges to introducing welfare-responsible practices in commercial fisheries include: identifying the risks and hazards faced by animals during capture, defining scientific principles and tools for good catch welfare, understanding the technical and socio-economic pathways for adoption, and increasing awareness of the benefits of good catch welfare among stakeholders through transparent communication and education.
To address these challenges, we are forming a coordinated world-wide network of multidisciplinary teams, including innovators from the fishing and technology sectors, retailers, research institutes, and certifiers. Solutions will likely involve technological innovations, such as stress-limiting capture methods and pre-slaughter stunning systems, along with initiatives to motivate the fishing industry, such as providing empirical evidence of quality improvements from good welfare practices, developing educational modules on fish welfare, and supporting product certification and valorization schemes.
The Catch Welfare Platform is free and open for everybody working with wild caught seafood to join. At this moment the Catch Welfare Platform has 173 members from 25 countries from 5 continents. The level of engagement ranges from just staying updated on the topic to joining our core team and engage in our collaborative efforts. You can simply subscribe on our website catchwelfareplatform.com.
On our website you can also register for our 2nd Catch Welfare Platform Conference. This time it will be online and free of charge.
What can you expect?
14 November 16:00-20:00 (GMT+7)
A presentation by Lynne Forman (Associated Seafoods) & Linda Wood (Marks&Spencer) on their work with the Nephrops fishery.
- Consumer perspectives on fish welfare from around the world
- Expert opinion on developments in stunning techniques and how to implement them correctly.
- And more…
15 November 14:00-20:00 (GMT+7) – Tuna Morning (Western Schedule)
- Updates on ongoing work on tuna and welfare
- Spectacular footage of recent at-sea tuna welfare research
- Industry and scientific insights into the relationship between tuna catch welfare and product quality
- Panel discussions with several representatives from the tuna industry on a variety of relevant topics
