Stirling researchers secure £2m for fish welfare project in Southeast Asia

The University of Stirling has been awarded more than £2 million to expand its research into the welfare of farmed fish in Southeast Asia.

The three-year initiative will be carried out by the university’s Institute of Aquaculture and is funded by Open Philanthropy, a US-based grant-making body. According to the university, the work will examine fish welfare across production chains in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, countries that are among the world’s largest producers and consumers of farmed fish and shellfish.

The programme follows an earlier project in Thailand and Vietnam, also supported by Open Philanthropy, which focused on building knowledge among farmers, processors and other stakeholders. Researchers say the new phase will extend that work to Indonesia and support the creation of a regional Asia Fish Welfare Network.

"Across Asia there are serious welfare issues that affect millions of aquatic animals and there is an urgent need to drive change," said project leader Professor Dave Little, Deputy Head of the Institute of Aquaculture, in a press release announcing the funding. "In addition, there is very little awareness about the importance of improving the situation, and we believe that projects such as this can help to change that."

“Understanding consumer and other stakeholders’ perceptions is critical to improving practices throughout the value chain, by identifying and targeting areas that could improve welfare the most. In the first project, we identified harvest through to slaughter as being critical points where practice could most effectively be improved," he added.

The university said the new funding will cover practical, biological, social and economic aspects of fish farming, while also supporting training and mentoring programmes in the region.

Six postgraduate students from Southeast Asia will receive full scholarships to study aquaculture-related Masters degrees at Stirling between 2025 and 2027. Potential applicants for the aquaculture postgraduate scholarships are invited to apply via the University of Stirling website.

“We've supported the University of Stirling’s work on farmed fish welfare in southeast Asia for the past three years and we're excited to see what the next phase of their work brings," said Michelle Lavery, Farm Animal Welfare Programme Associate at Open Philanthropy.

“The team has prioritised building and supporting local fish welfare research communities in Thailand and Vietnam, and has partnered with industry and policymakers to maximise the chances that the fish welfare improvements resulting from their work are taken up sustainably. This kind of field-building and industry-facing groundwork is important for fish welfare now and into the future," she added.

The announcement comes as Stirling prepares to open the National Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Hub (NATIH), a £17 million centre which the university says "will drive the UK’s ambition to be a world leader in modern aquaculture practice", tackling key challenges such as fish welfare and environmental impact.

The new hub is to be integrated within the University's existing Institute of Aquaculture (IoA), the UK’s leading centre for aquaculture research, which includes a large-scale marine facility at Machrihanish in Kintyre and a freshwater facility at Buckieburn near Denny.