On 20th to 22nd March 2024, Simão Zacarias attended the Vietshrimp Aquaculture International Fair in Ca Mau, Vietnam. Ca Mau is the hotspot province of shrimp farming. He was one of the speakers and gave a presentation on the potential of adopting high welfare practice such as shrimp non-ablation to improve the value of commercial shrimp in Vietnam and worldwide. In his session there was also a Vietnamese speaker from Directorate of Fisheries who talked about the regulations and practices associated to improving the welfare of shrimp in Vietnam, and a speaker from Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) who outlined the shrimp welfare requirements which are being included in new standard.

Key highlights:

• Some Vietnamese hatcheries/farmers are adopting non-ablation, and some international buyers are encouraging the industry towards producing shrimp from eyestalk ablated free animals.

• Awareness of shrimp farmers on welfare issues is very low when compared to livestock farmers. There is, therefore, a need to improve the farmers’ awareness, and strengthen the capacity of stakeholders involved in the shrimp production chain.

• Shrimp welfare is generally a new concept in Vietnam.

• There are no specific local standards and guidelines for shrimp welfare. However, there are general local laws which a) mentions the need to provide better animal welfare and b) regulate humane treatment of animals which is only applicable to terrestrial animals.

• New upcoming standards will include more contents on shrimp welfare requirements.