Simão Zacarias, our Postdoctoral Research Fellow who is working on the Open Philanthropy funded project “Improving Farmed Fish Welfare in Asia” attended on 22-02-2023 an online workshop on “Animal Welfare and Sustainability” and on 17-04-2023 an in-person event focused on “Early Career Researcher Networking” which was organized by the Animal Welfare and Research Network (AWRN).

Animal and Sustainability Workshop

The nearly 4h workshop was pre-conceived considering that animal welfare were not included in the concept and discussions of sustainability. For example, improved animal welfare was not part of the Sustainability Development Goals of the United Nations. Furthermore, most of animal welfare related research was associated on current issues and little work was being conducted to prepare for the future challenges. So, neglecting to create actions to adapt and mitigate climate change will pose unprecedented animal welfare challenges based on what has been observed during recent extreme climatic events and the Covid19 pandemic.

Therefore the aim of the event was to expand the awareness of animal welfare scientists on the future challenges and stimulate new work and collaborations. These themes were explored:

The inclusion of animal welfare within the sustainability framework.
The need to increase adaptation to current and future climate crises.
Trade-offs between climate change mitigation strategies and animal welfare especially in livestock production.
The role of public opinion in guiding the future of livestock production.

The topics discussed below are the most relevant ones for farmed aquatic animals.

Linda Keeling from Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences talked about Animal Welfare and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, specifically the inclusion and compatibility of animal welfare with the UN sustainability goals. To date, animals are hardly mentioned and their welfare is not mentioned at all in the UN SDGs. When achieving some of the specific SDGs in future, they may not be sustainable in the long term if animal welfare is not considered. However, there is a good consensus that achieving SDGs is compatible with working to improve animal welfare. Furthermore, on average, the impact of achieving an SDG is considered to be slightly better at leading to animal welfare improvement, than the opposite direction. There are many co-benefits between improving animal welfare and achieving the SDGs and we can use these more effectively. If you would like to read more about the linkage between achieving SDGs and improving animal welfare, please read her work here (Keeling et al., 2019; Olmos Antillón et al., 2021; Kelling et al., 2022).

Maria Jose Hotzel from the Federal University of Santa Catarina highlighted her research on public perceptions of animals and the importance of their welfare as part of a more sustainable agriculture. Welfare of animals can be impacted by the public perceptions and one of the main principles associated with the success of international animal welfare initiatives has been on understanding of local audiences and context (e.g. culture by country or region). Most participants of her research across 14 countries (Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Sudan, Thailand, United Kingdom and United States) think that the welfare of both farmed animals and companion animals is important to them, and that laws that protect that welfare are also important. The public understanding on welfare of companion animals seems to be similar to farmed animals. Although highly developed nations are considered to care more for the welfare of animals, her research has demonstrated that less developed country can also care more for animal welfare. Perceptions of animals and their worthiness of welfare considerations vary by country. There is a consensus that animals such as fish feel pain and experience emotions, although to a lesser degree. If you would like to read more about the international perceptions of animals and the importance of their welfare, please read her work here (Sinclair, et al., 2022).

Bas Rodenburg from Utrecht University presented on positive animal welfare and sustainability. Besides sustainability issues, there is a risk of poor animal welfare due to intensive production as a result of large increase in meat consumption from 1960s up to date. A transition from current linear food system towards a circular one is proposed to tackle environmental impact of the entire food system (Van Zanten, et a., 2019). However this model might not improve animal welfare due to issues related to feed quality, risks of circularity and the animal’s interests are not central in the transition. Improving animal welfare should be an integral part of sustainable animal production. Hence, a One Welfare approach should be adopted. It recognises that animal welfare, human well-being and environmental health are interconnected.

A Humane Livestock Farming report has been drafted by the Dutch Council on Animal Affair. It incorporates six principles which were adapted from the Five Domains model:

Respect for intrinsic value of the animal and recognition as a sentient being.
Good feeding
Good housing
Good health
Natural behaviour
Positive emotional state

The bottom line of those principles is to make sure that animal is able to adapt to the circumstances in its environment to reach a state that the animal perceives as positive.

Why should we meet animal behavioural needs? It allows them to fulfil motivations which also allow them to use their behaviour to adapt to their physical and social environment. Successful adaptation is expected to lead to a situation that animal experiences positive outcome. Meeting behavioural needs improves resilience. Meeting behavioural need is pivotal to allow animals to adapt to their environment. A stimulating environment supports resilience and adaptive capacity which will lead to a positive emotional state. There is a need to redesign animal production system based on the need of the animal (Data based on a pig farming resilience project; Parois et al., 2022).

Becca Franks, from New York University discussed on “Animal welfare risks of global aquaculture” where she showed data from her review work which demonstrated that there were more welfare knowledge of farmed aquatic vertebrates than in invertebrates. In addition, invertebrates welfare knowledge was in general very little. Overall, there is still higher number of individuals/species in aquaculture without welfare knowledge. So this increase the welfare risks of farmed aquatic animals (Franks, et al., 2021). She also highlighted that aquatic animal welfare and sustainability linkage should also consider societal acceptance and a One Welfare approach.

Food for thought questions/comments/highlights

Some participants fully expect and support transition to more natural farming systems. However, this will inevitably increase costs for farmers and eventually consumers, making protein less available to the less well of. So, the solution is not the same everywhere due to some economic difference, meat consumption, etc.
What approaches can the animal welfare science community take to persuade the farming and food industries and governments that improving animal welfare and overall 'sustainability' really can and do have positive synergies? Their experience is that many in these communities still consider the two elements to be in conflict. Is knowledge transferring a permanent challenge? How can we do it better/differently in this area? The main answer was that there is no one way forward; we can do it in different ways.
Now that there is proof of improved welfare states in farmed animals through enriched environments - will farms be required to adopt these measures? Is there a welfare assessment framework that will monitor this?
Can we have animal welfare in SDG as a number?
What do you think is the most effective way to move towards more animal welfare friendly husbandry systems? It seems that the change is coming but too slowly.
Resilience of animals (pig) was increased by a better environment - which is different from breeding animals to be resilient.
Would those people who expressed concern for animal welfare and wanted it to be good also pay more for food? This is often cited as the key 'problem' with improving welfare i.e. the gap between what citizens say they want and what they will actually support through their purchasing choices.
Would there be more central (governmental) financial support for higher welfare practices in farming (if/when they do cost more) if the links with environmental benefits could be better highlighted/demonstrated?
Is it more effective for a top down government policy approach to improving 'blue food' sustainability, or does the power lie with the consumer? And if the consumer, what is the best approach in educating the public surrounding blue food welfare and sustainability?

Early Career Researcher (ECR) Networking Event

The 1 day workshop event was held at Bristol University in Bristol City. The main goals of the event were to:

Allow all ECRs to talk to one-another in an informal setting, where they could reach out for support with research questions and ask for advice on following a career path in animal welfare research.
To generate ideas for collaboration and new research directions, guided by more experienced (post-doctoral) researchers.
To share experiences of career pathways in different institutions and across sectors.

There were participants from the academia (PhD students, Posdocs, Lectures) and others (NGOs and Industry).

Early career researchers at the AWRN Networking Event in Bristol

Key highlights for career in animal welfare outside academia (e.g. NGOs, industry, and government):

Need to have welfare and communication skills.
Support knowledge exchange and transferable skills.
A welfare project involves collaboration with different stakeholders and improves knowledge exchange.
Report on animal welfare at different farming stage and support welfare improvement through supply chain.
Transition from academia to industry/NGO can be a challenge but worthwhile.

Key highlights for career in animal welfare in academia:

Support the industry and other stakeholders with evidence and welfare knowledge.
Assist on capacity building and development of new concepts and technologies.
Support the interface of sustainability and animal welfare.
Understand behaviour, health and welfare of animals.

Main research topic areas in animal welfare

Human behaviour change.
Farmer’s perception/mindset (their own problems/ideas).
Behavioural coding.
Animal behaviour response in different farming systems.
Optimization of farming welfare practices.
Environment enrichment.