Dyrevernalliansen — Fish Welfare

The Open Philanthropy Project recommended a grant of $378,000 over two years to Dyrevernalliansen (The Norwegian Animal Protection Alliance) to enable it to expand its animal welfare engagement with the Norwegian fish farming industry as part of a larger effort to build the field of farmed fish welfare advocacy. Dyrevernalliansen plans to use this grant to work cooperatively with producers and retailers to identify important fish welfare considerations that can easily be changed. We expect that some of these considerations may be related to farmed salmon environmental conditions, equipment design, handling procedures, and slaughter method.

According to the best estimates we are aware of, fish account for about three quarters of all vertebrate farmed animals.¹ Although conditions vary greatly by species and country, our understanding is that most fish are farmed for longer and in harsher conditions than those experienced by most other farm animals. Consequently, we find it plausible that fish farming could be the greatest cause of farm animal suffering globally. Despite this, we are not aware of any major animal welfare groups that have campaigns focused on fish welfare, and we therefore believe that it is important to start building this area of farm animal welfare advocacy.

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