Humane Slaughter Association — Fish, Crustacean, and Cephalopod Welfare

[Farm Animal Welfare] Grant investigator: Lewis Bollard This page was reviewed but not written by the grant investigator. HSA staff also reviewed this page prior to publication. The Open Philanthropy Project recommended a grant of £1,999,137 ($2,528,678 at time of conversion) to the Humane Slaughter Association (HSA) to support research to improve the welfare of farmed fish, decapod crustaceans (crabs, lobsters), and/or coleoid cephalopods (cuttlefish, octopus, squid). According to the best estimates we are aware of, fish account for about three quarters of all vertebrate farmed animals alive at any time.1 Despite this, we are not aware of any major animal welfare groups that have campaigns focused on fish welfare, and we therefore believe that it is important to start building this area of farm animal welfare advocacy and research. Over the past year, we recommended three previous grants in the area of fish welfare: one to Eurogroup for Animals, one to Dyrevernalliansen, and one to the Albert Schweitzer Foundation. This funding will allow HSA to seek proposals for research to improve the welfare of farmed fish, decapod crustaceans (crabs, lobsters), and/or coleoid cephalopods (cuttlefish, octopus, squid), and to translate related HSA publications. This work may take several years depending on the nature of the research applications received. Lewis Bollard, our Program Officer for Farm Animal Welfare, is uncomfortable with the phrase “humane slaughter,” but recommends this grant to reduce avoidable suffering caused by current slaughter practices. Sources DOCUMENT SOURCE Farm Animal Statistics, Open Philanthropy Summary Source