The Open Philanthropy Project recommended a grant of €459,000 ($533,036 at the time of conversion) over two years to the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) to develop a fish welfare standard. ASC’s goal is to develop an objective, evidence-based standard that is applicable to all eligible ASC-certified species and recognized globally. The fish welfare standard will be linked to the ASC farm standards. ASC intends to share its approach to fish welfare with all farms engaged with the program and encourage adoption of it.
Our Program Officer for Farm Animal Welfare, Lewis Bollard, began looking into funding opportunities related to farmed fish welfare last year, due to the number of animals affected by fish farming.
ASC intends to use these funds for expenses related to standard development, such as salaries, consulting, outreach and communications, overhead, market testing, and travel and administrative costs.
This grant falls within our focus area of farm animal welfare.