The European Commission’s Vision 2040 for Fisheries and Aquaculture is out, and we’re happy to see a mention of animal welfare. The text says the Commission will “further develop the EU framework for the welfare of farmed aquatic animals across all stages of production, building on existing good husbandry practices, guidance and scientific knowledge.”
It also states that “in aquaculture, more specialized and continuous training will be needed, covering areas such as aquatic biology, aquatic animal health and welfare, and innovative farming practices,” implicitly recognizing that the way the fish are treated in aquaculture is deficient.
However, there are no planned next steps outlined for developing the welfare framework; and in fact the Vision’s overall aim is to farm MORE fish in the EU. Furthermore, there’s no mention of the welfare of wild-caught fish and other aquatic animals; nor are there measures to reduce abandoned, lost, and otherwise discarded fishing gear, which causes harm to marine life.
To understand the real impact of aquaculture and fisheries, data collection should count numbers of affected animals as individuals and not by weight, for both wild-caught fish species and bycatch (which can include other marine animals, birds, and mammals). In addition, monitoring and observation of antimicrobial release from aquaculture to underpin antimicrobial resistance (#AMR) as a water-cycle concern would also be a critical part of any truly sustainable and forward-looking strategy for aquatic ecosystems.
The Vision should place the welfare of ALL marine life at the centre, acknowledging Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU — which recognizes animals as sentient beings — and promote its reflection in the legislation. As well as promptly delivering its animal welfare commitments for farmed fish, the Commission should now come up with concrete and robust measures to all marine animals affected by fishing.
Read the Commission’s Vision 2040 for Fisheries and Aquaculture here.
A scientific opinion published in October by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) was partly informed by the research work of Anatole Poinsot, our Legal Advisor, and his co-authors, Eugénie Duval and Benjamin Lecorps.
The European Commission’s Work Programme for 2027 is out today – and it contains no mention of the promise to revise standards for laying hens, broiler chickens, and pigs.
Earlier this year, Nueva Pescanova abandoned its plans to build the world’s first commercial octopus farm in Gran Canaria, Spain. The threat will not go away until we have a ban on octopus farming in EU law. A joint letter to the European Commission, coordinated by CIWF, explains why farming carnivorous aquatic species is inherently incompatible with animal welfare.
