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FishEthoGroup
News
New Report: Humane Fish Slaughter Needs Urgent Attention
As aquaculture expands rapidly, so does the responsibility to ensure ethical practices — especially at slaughter.
🔬 A recent report we co-authored, "Blueprint for research to detect loss of consciousness and/or sensibility of fish at slaughter", highlights critical gaps in current methods.
Key findings:
• Methods like asphyxiation and live chilling cause prolonged suffering
• Electrical stunning shows promise, but fish often recover too quickly and we still don’t have enough data to prove it works reliably in large-scale farms
• Percussive stunning and destroying the central nervous system may be more effective, but lack validation at commercial scales
• There's an urgent need for validated, scalable, and humane alternatives
Species like gilthead seabream and European seabass have shown how neurological indicators are important to assess stunning efficacy.
>> The future of aquaculture depends on science-backed, ethical solutions. It's time for cross-sector collaboration to set humane standards. You can access the full report here.
(posted on 2025/06/25)
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Who we are
Who we are
We are a non-profit association bridging the gaps between science and the stakeholders in the aquaculture sector: producers, certifiers, retailers, NGOs, policy makers and consumers. Our goal is to study and improve the welfare of farmed fishes and other aquatic animals by applying ethological scientific knowledge into best practices in fish farming.
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What we stand for
What we stand for
Throughout the years, our team has been involved in many areas of the aquaculture sector, from scientific research to campaigning, from auditing to policy. We use that expertise to promote the welfare of fishes through many initiatives with our partners and collaborators.
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What we do
What we do
We develop science-based solutions to assess and improve the welfare of captive and wild-caught fishes. In our approach, we apply a strong background in aquaculture and ethology to address the welfare of fishes. We use state-of-the-art knowledge on the behaviour of a species to understand how its welfare is affected under farming conditions and what we can do to promote it.
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Contact
Partners and collaborations
Need help?
If you are interested in scientific and technical expertise applied to welfare in fish farming, please contact us.
We develop custom-made welfare solutions for your initiatives, as consultancy in farms or other facilities, tailored courses, guidance, certification requirements or systems, specific research studies and welfare protocols (see What we do).
Questions? Suggestions? Drop us a line!
Or follow us on our social media!