Increasing demands for animal welfare

For the agricultural sector, animal well-being has become an increasingly important topic over the last decade. The same is true for the growing industry of aquaculture, the farming of fish and other aquatic species.

GLOBALG.A.P. has always considered animal health and welfare to be an integral part of good aquaculture practices, with the topic already featuring in the first version of the GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) standard for Aquaculture in 2004. Over the years and with each standard revision, the animal welfare criteria have been updated and extended. Currently, nearly 20% of the criteria for the IFA standard for Aquaculture address good animal health and welfare practices.

Collaboration, communication, and consensus

To align with the expectations of the market and explore greater interest in all aspects of animal welfare, GLOBALG.A.P. has been an active participant in the German Aquaculture Welfare Initiative (Initiativkreis Tierschutzstandards Aquakultur) since 2019.

Improvements in the industry

The Aquaculture Welfare Initiative counts among its members some of the most important German food retailers, including Kaufland, ALDI (Nord and Süd), EDEKA, LIDL, and REWE. Discussions with these retailers within the framework of the Aquaculture Welfare Initiative have provided valuable insights and have been a major contribution to the revision of the GLOBALG.A.P. IFA standard for Aquaculture (IFA version 6), which is due to be published in 2022.

We thank the Aquaculture Welfare Initiative for its tireless efforts in bringing together stakeholders for discussions and helping to find a consensus that benefits aquatic animal welfare and is based on scientific evidence.

https://albert-schweitzer-stiftung.de/aktuell/tierschutzstandards-aquakulturen-erhoehen