Issues

Aquatic Animal Welfare - Research

Research Projects

During the initial stages of the process the AAWWG identified several priority research project areas that would add immediate value in support of the ‘Overarching Principles’ and bridge the gap between theory and practice within the community:

Impacts of stress from capture to slaughter;
Product quality; and,
Fish welfare in aquaculture.

A Stocktake of Existing Aquatic Animal Welfare Rules and Practices

An initial stocktake of existing the aquatic sector animal welfare rules and applied practices was identified as the logical starting point for the AAWWG so as to understand;

what was already available within the various sector groups;
where there were gaps; and,
how might those gaps be filled.

The first stage of this project was to compile an inventory of current relevant animal welfare documentation with respect to finfish in Australia through a stocktake.

The gaps identified from this project included:

The absence of specific animal welfare guidelines in some of the individual sectors (eg commercial wild capture);
The extent to which existing sector Codes of Practices and guidelines are disseminated and subsequently used;
Availability of guidelines or specific operating procedures for restaurant owners that assists then to address fish welfare issues; and,
The lack of audit concerning the welfare of fish.

A copy of the final project report is available at: Aquatic Animal Welfare in Perspective Final Report

Animal Welfare Publications and research projects include: