Aquatic Life Institute Recommended by Animal Charity Evaluators in 2024
We are thrilled to announce that Aquatic Life Institute has been recognized as one of the most effective animal charities in the world according to Animal Charity Evaluators’ 2024 recommendations.
Our team at ALI is incredibly honored and enthusiastic about receiving this highly coveted recommendation from Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE). Since 2019, we’ve dedicated our work to socializing and normalizing the notion that aquatic animals are sentient, and that there are strong moral and ethical reasons for them to have greater protections and welfare considerations than they historically have ever been provided.
After months of evaluation, ACE has determined that their Recommended Charities work effectively and are most likely to produce the greatest gains for animals, actively evaluate and improve their programs, and are able to do the most good with additional donations. This distinction reflects ALI’s dedication to using and conducting the latest research to guide global interventions with the highest impact, ultimately reducing the most suffering at the lowest cost point.
ACE’s goal is to help people help animals by providing donors with impactful giving opportunities that can reduce animal suffering to the greatest extent possible. Their recommendations, based on evidence and research, aim to take the guesswork out of supporting animal advocacy. This year, we are one of 5 organizations to receive ACE’s 2024 Recommended Charity title.
View ACE’s Full Report Here.
“ACE proudly recommends Aquatic Life Institute (ALI) as an excellent giving opportunity. ALI carries out a variety of short-term and long-term strategies aimed at reducing the significant suffering experienced by both farmed and wild-caught aquatic animals. These animals are among the most neglected in animal advocacy, despite their numbers being greater than all land animals combined. ALI uses robust logic to develop their programs and has a strong track record of success. Our cost-effectiveness assessment indicates that they have been able to help many animals at a relatively low cost. For example, through their corporate outreach program, we estimate they have reduced the suffering of thousands of shrimps for every dollar spent. ALI’s plans for 2025 and 2026 give us confidence that they would use donations in ways that are likely to create the most positive change for aquatic animals.”
As production and consumption estimates are projected to continue increasing at a dramatic pace in the coming decades, we are committed to persuading key decision makers to prioritize interventions that will help reduce the suffering of aquatic animals in the food system, including our 4Rs approach to seafood system reform. We believe that legislation, corporations, and seafood certifications must include high welfare standards for aquatic animals in farms and marine capture fisheries. Using a collaborative approach, we will continue to generate and guide momentum for positive change.
As ACE states in their review, “ALI appears to have strategically chosen their policy, corporate, and certifier outreach campaigns to bring about both short-term benefits and longer-term systemic change. Especially for a relatively under-explored area like aquatic animal welfare, pursuing a strategically chosen range of tactics throughout the aquatic animal supply chain seems particularly important.”
After years of honing this approach, we are currently on the precipice of a global aquatic animal welfare movement, as demonstrated by our recent progress:
ALI helped achieve a statewide ban on octopus farming and the import of farmed octopuses in California, following success in working on a first in the world legislation in Washington state in March 2024. Alongside these statewide bills, ALI worked with other organizations and Senators Whitehouse and Murkowski to introduce a federal bi-partisan bill to ban commercial octopus farming and the importation of commercially farmed octopus.
Leaning on ALI’s expertise, Hilton Foods produced its first crustacean welfare policy. Crustaceans are now acknowledged as sentient beings and their welfare implications during farming, transport, and slaughter are taken into account.
Tesco also published a comprehensive decapod crustacean welfare policy with the help of ALI, which includes a public commitment to ensuring high welfare throughout the entire lifecycle of decapod crustaceans in its supply chain, from farming to slaughter, and recognises the sentience of these animals.
ALI played a pivotal role in the development of seafood brand BlueYou's first-of-its-kind Animal Welfare Policy, which covers both farmed and wild aquatic animal sourcing.
We have grown our Aquatic Animal Alliance (AAA) to 154 member organizations worldwide, all committed to improving the lives of aquatic animals. The coalition allows us to have a global, united voice and is actively engaged in sending evidence-based policy asks that urge certifiers, corporations, government officials and decision-makers, international bodies, and academia to include aquatic animal welfare as a priority intervention. The AAA is composed of incredible organizations that also make impactful and meaningful progress in their countries and regions, ensuring that change for aquatic animals advances both globally in international settings, and locally in farms and regulations.
Our certifier campaign, which aims to ensure seafood products labeled as “sustainable” or “responsible” include the most robust animal welfare considerations, recently released its 3rd Aquaculture Certification Schemes Benchmark. Key highlights from this year’s campaign include that, following our recommendations: 6 out of 9 certifiers and agencies reviewed prohibit eyestalk ablation in shrimp farming; 5 out of 9 perform well in stocking density and space requirements; and 4 out of 9 have taken a stance against octopus farming.
We are grateful for all of the support that we have received from our funders, collaborators, and supporters to date, it’s because of all of you that we are able to continue making a difference for aquatic animals worldwide. We invite you to continue supporting us as we increase our capacity to help even more aquatic animals and ensure that policies worldwide include important welfare commitments. In the coming year, we aim to build out our team to strengthen our certifier outreach, policy work, and the impact of the Aquatic Animal Alliance.
“By supporting ALI, you play a crucial role in helping them achieve their goals and creating a better experience for aquatic animals around the world.”
We can't wait to have you join us in the coming phases of our journey to transform this part of the global food system to a more ethical and compassionate one.