Takeaways from NorFishing: The Fishing Industry Can Improve Fish Welfare…but is There Will?
Between August 23-36, one of the fishing sector’s biggest industry events took place in Trondheim, Norway. Our Head of Strategic Initiatives, Christine Xu, attended NorFishing and shares a few insights below.
1. Fish can be killed humanely
Every year, 2-3 trillion fishes are caught in the wild. That’s 35x more than the number of chickens killed. Yet, fishes that are caught and slaughtered onboard fishing vessels are often not stunned before slaughter, suffering a long, cruel and painful death (e.g. left suffocating in air and/or live gutting). Many presume that this is due to a lack of stunning technology for commercial fishing vessels. However, after publishing our reports (here) and further speaking to industry experts in stunning & slaughter technology at NorFishing, the conclusion is unequivocal: stunning technology exists and can be applied to any type of commercial fishing vessel in the world and to most (if not all) species. Whether it’s in-water electrical stunning, dry/semi-dry electrical stunning or percussive stunning, and whether it’s fish, shrimp or crab, the technology exists and is being applied. The key element going forward is for the entire industry to adopt it.
2. Norway leads the fishing sector
Norway, in terms of legislation, technology and research that drives improved fish welfare in capture fisheries, leads the fishing industry. By law, all fish slaughtered onboard fishing vessels in Norway must be stunned (and proven unconscious). This is one step ahead of the European Union’s legislation, which specifies stunning requirements for land animals slaughtered for food, but none for wild-caught fish. As for technology, there are several companies that manufacture stunners:
Norwegian:
Askvik Aqua (In-water electrical stunner)
Optimar (dry and semi-dry electric stunner)
Scottish:
Ace Aquatec (In-water electrical stunner)
German:
Baader (Percussive stunner)
Meanwhile, research institutes NOFIMA and IMR, both based in Norway, lead research in how to improve animal welfare in capture fisheries. We will follow their new research closely to update our humane capture fisheries recommendations as well as disseminate information on best available technology and urge for change in legislation on mandatory stunning before slaughter.
3. Product quality is the main driver
Most, if not all, of the companies that purchase stunning machines or have more gentler capture/handling techniques do it to improve product quality, as such practices reduce injury and stress and thus produce higher quality fish products. At least one company, Bristol Wave Seafoods (see their Blue North vessel), developed humane capture and stunning technology onboard with animal welfare as their main concern. Regardless of whether it is done for better quality or animal welfare, it is a win if we can reduce unnecessary suffering of wild-caught fish, not only for the animals themselves but for the safety of the fishers as well (e.g. Thrashing fish, especially large species, during retrieval and slaughter threatens worker safety.) Another key driver that can improve the industry is consumer demand: companies at NorFishing said again and again that if consumers demand better quality fish or humanely-caught/slaughtered fish, then the shift will be much faster in getting more fishing companies to adopt these technologies.
We at Aquatic Life Institute are committed to improving welfare in capture fisheries. If you would like to support our work, please visit our website.
Interview with Christine Xu at NorFishing