They feel, experiencing not only pain, stress, fear, panic and other negative emotions, but positive emotions as well.
Imagem: Freepik
Fish farming in Brazil
tons of fish produced per year
largest tilapia producer in the world
of fish suffer due to failures during slaughter
Source: Peixe BR
Despite science increasingly demonstrating that fishes are sentient, meaning they experience emotions, the welfare of these animals is largely neglected.
Because they lack facial and body expressions similar to ours, people often have difficulty accepting that fishes can feel.
Access the Declaration of Sentience in FishCommon practices in aquaculture, such as capture, confinement, and transportation, cause stress to fish. Prolonged and stressful handling can even lead to their death.
Image: We Animals
Fishes are often slaughtered by asphyxiation or hypothermia in ice or freezing water, methods that cause a lot of suffering. The death is prolonged while the animals are still conscious. Some species can survive for many hours in these conditions!
Image: We Animals
The capture of a species beyond its natural reproduction capacity is an unrestrained and unsustainable activity (overfishing or predatory fishing), including the disregard for closed seasons (when fishing is prohibited to ensure conservation of fish during their breeding-period).
Fishing methods that inherently cause enormous environmental impact, such as trawling, are other major problems.
Image: We Animals
Every stage of fishing, from the active search for the target species to their capture, selection, storage and slaughter, can cause pain and a lot of stress to the caught animals. Injuries, loss of scales, suffocation, and crushing are just a few examples of what happens to fish during fishing.
Image: We Animals
The accidental fishing of non-target animals represents a problem for the balance of aquatic ecosystems.
Image: We Animals
The entrapment of animals in discarded or abandoned fishing gear also impacts aquatic populations.
Image: We Animals
Monitoring and adjusting water quality parameters are essential, such as dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, pH, temperature, ammonia, nitrate, turbidity, and salinity.
Imagem: Freepik Feed with appropriate formulation and size must be provided to the species being raised, according to their life stages, in adequate quantities and in a way that is accessible to all farmed fish.
Imagem: Freepik Maintaining appropriate stocking densities for different species and life stages is essential to avoid negative physical, behavioral, and psychological impacts. Some species tolerate higher densities better than others, depending on their natural living habits.
Imagem: Freepik In production systems, monotony and lack of appropriate stimulation can cause great suffering to fish throughout their lives.
Using techniques to enrich the environment with substrates, plants, shelters, and background coloring, which positively stimulate these animals according to their biology and natural species needs, is a good way to improve this scenario.
Imagem: Freepik To avoid suffering for fish during slaughter, it is essential to employ methods that render them unconscious, such as electronarcosis or percussion, adjusted to the species particularities and the size of individuals, followed by gill cutting or decapitation.
Imagem: Freepik Alianima works to improve the lives of fishes.
To achieve this, we work collaboratively with producers, the food industry and government authorities, ensuring animal welfare policies that address the points above.
All of our work has a technical-scientific basis, supported by a team of experts specialized in animal welfare.
Learn about some of our approaches:
Given the significant number of species that are produced and fished in Brazil and the lack of specific legislation supporting improvements in fish conditions, we formed an Advisory Board comprising experts and renowned professionals in the field. They assist us in discussing, delving deeper, and making decisions in our actions:
Veterinary Doctor, Master’s and PhD in Veterinary Sciences. Post-doctoral Fellow at the Animal Welfare Laboratory at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR).
Veterinary Doctor, Master’s in Veterinary Sciences and PhD in Science. Post-doctoral Fellow at the Instituto de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentarias (IRTA) in Spain.
Biologist, Master’s and PhD in Biological Sciences (Zoology). Associate Professor in Animal Behavior at Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp).
Biologist, Master’s in Ethology and PhD in Aquatic Science. Team leader of the FishEthoGroup Association (FEG).
Veterinary Doctor, Master’s in Animal Science and PhD in Biological Sciences (Physiology). Permanent professor at the University of Passo Fundo (UPF).
Biologist, Master’s in Aquatic Biology and PhD in Aquaculture and Biology of Aquatic Organisms. Professor at the Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR).
Find out about the status of fish welfare in Brazil, in both fish farming and fisheries.
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