Nghia Phan shares his final MSc project results
Hi everyone, it has been a month since I submitted and wrapped up my dissertation research project on fish health and the cost-benefit of live-holding systems at Vietnamese markets. There were some interesting aspects discovered.
You can find my previous blog posts about this project’s introduction and updates from the archive.
For a brief recap, my project was to investigate the welfare stage of pangasius and tilapia in Long Xuyen City (South) as well as tilapia and common carp in Ha Noi City (North), in Vietnamese traditional markets, using Operational Welfare Indicators (OWIs), live-holding systems operation survey of vendors, and cost-benefit analysis.
Key findings for the current situation of fish welfare in Vietnamese wet markets
Some of this project's findings have been discussed in the update post, which you can find here.
The live-holding systems observed were different in the South and the North. For the South, sellers prefer a combination of metal and composite trays, with a mix of sitting indoors (with or without shade) and outdoors. The volume of fish sold per day was also lower compared to the North, yet the average weight per fish was also higher in the North (1.2 kg to 1.7kg). The North vendors preferred self-built brick tanks with indoor seating. Water sources and maintenance were also different between the region and the seating. Underground water was solely used in the North, whereas vendors used tap and river water in the South, indoors and outdoors, respectively.
Live-holding systems containers. From left to right. Top row: pangasius and tilapia in deep metal tray; tilapia in composite container; tilapia and common carp in self-built brick tank. Bottom row: tilapia in self-built wooden box with plastic lined; snakehead fish in Styrofoam box; tilapia in shallow metal tray.
The fish's physical health scores based on published Operational Welfare Indicators (OWIs) were discussed; in short, there were significantly lower scores for vendors sitting outdoors and indoors in the South. Comparing the tilapia scores between the regions, there were no significant differences. However, the skin score of tilapia was significantly higher in Long Xuyen market (outdoors with shade) compared to other markets. Higher scores equal worse conditions. Eyes, skin, scales, gills, and fins were the organs that consistently had higher scores. This could be due to the density or material of the containers, yet statistics did not show any correlation.
For the water quality, we discovered a negative correlation between the temperature and other water quality parameters (DO, NH3, TAN, pH). Previous studies support this finding, which could help the vendors better manage their water quality. We also found that all of the measured TAN values were higher than the recommended value, yet only one vendor had NH3 value higher than the recommended. Water quality has been proven to affect fish welfare and health, yet we have failed to find any effect on fish; this could be due to the short period in which fish were held in the systems.
The cost-benefit analysis showed that the average margin (gross selling income minus total cost) of vendors in both regions was above the average salary in Vietnam. Interestingly, lower-margin vendors had higher margins on cost (margin over gross selling income) compared to the higher-margin vendors. We did not find any correlation between the practices of the vendors and their margin and margin on cost. This could be due to the sample size and the margin being affected by factors other than those we examined.
Conclusion
The current status of fish welfare in Vietnamese live-holding systems of pangasius, common carp, and tilapia, as well as the cost-benefit, was identified in this project. Further research could focus on the materials, water quality maintenance setup and practices, and a more in-depth cost-benefit analysis. A combination of these results could influence the regulation of the law and regulation makers. However, the willingness to buy and the perception of customers towards welfare and welfare products in Vietnam should be studied in advance as this will be the essential view towards the welfare in Vietnam; this could shape and determine the state of animal welfare in Vietnam in the future.
Thank you for reading this blog post. If you have any recommendations or discussions, please don’t hesitate to contact me through my email at ndp00009@students.stir.ac.uk. This project was funded by Open Philanthropy.