Seven MoUs signed for sustainable, higher-welfare shrimps in Gujarat

Hello from Shrimp Welfare Project,

We have been extremely busy over the last few months and have much to update you on. Including our biggest achievement to date, hosting an event in Gujarat, India on the science of sustainable success. At this meeting we were excited to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with 7 different parties including the Gujarat Aquaculture Association, large farmers, processors, and a broodstock multiplication centre owner.

We have also begun our scoping work in Vietnam. And have participated in several conferences and events relevant to our work.  Our CEO, Andrés Jiménez Zorrilla will be attending the Global Shrimp Forum in Utrecht from 6-8th September. Should you be there as well, please reach out - He would love to talk shrimp with you! 

This is all work that is made possible by the grants we have received from both the EA Funds’ Animal Welfare Fund and the Animal Charity Evaluators’ Movement Grants, as well as some private donors, which we are incredibly grateful for.

Have a great week!

Andrés and Aaron | Shrimp Welfare Project co-founders

Shrimp Welfare Project and Gujarat’s shrimp farmers, processors and hatcheries sign MoU to promote sustainable shrimp production.

The Indian State of Gujarat has a long tradition of upholding high moral standards including a commitment to the wellbeing of all sentient beings. This commitment to welfare standards marks Gujarat as the birthplace for this innovative project which will raise the bar in sustainable, higher-welfare shrimp aquaculture.

Read more about the event.

From July to August of 2022 we began scoping work in Vietnam. Our work took us into many different provinces including Ho Chi Minh City and 5 provinces in the Mekong Delta (Ben Tre, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, Can Tho, and Tra Vinh).

As part of our scoping project, we met with 34 experts who work in a wide variety of different sectors related to aquaculture including farmers, dealers, feed producers, distributors and sellers, medicine producers, academics, processors/exporters, broodstock producers, PL producers, NGOs, consulting firms, and technology companies.

The next steps for our Vietnam scoping project will begin in September 2022 and focus primarily on farm surveys.

Industry:

• IFAF India - Sri Rang (our India Program Coordinator) attended the 12th Indian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum - 5-7 May 2022

• ILDEX Vietnam - Andrés (our CEO) and Lien-Huong (our Vietnam Program Coordinator)  attended the 8th International Livestock, Dairy, Meat Processing and Aquaculture Exposition - 3-5 August 2022

• Vietfish - Lien-Huong attended the Vietnam Fisheries International Exhibition - 24-26 August 2022

Animal Welfare:

• Summer Shoal - Andrés attended the IV Summer Shoal in Fish Ethology and Welfare 2022 - 28 June-1July 2022

• Humane Slaughter Conference - Aaron (our CIO) attended the Humane Slaughter Associations (HSA) conference on Livestock Welfare during Transport, Marketing & Slaughter - 30 Jun-1July 2022

• Eurogroup for Animals - Aaron presented research to the other members of the Fish Working Group on Shrimp Stunning and Slaughter (alongside Crustacean Compassion) - 5 July 2022

• CARE - Andrés attended the Conference on Animal Rights in Europe (CARE) conference - 26-28 August 2022

Effective Altruism:

• Andrés attended EAG London - 15-17 April 2022

• Lucas (our researcher) attended EAGx Australia - 8-10 August 2022

• Andrés and Aaron attended EAG San Francisco - 29-31 July 2022

• Lien-Huong will be attending EAGx Singapore - 2-3 September 2022

• Aaron will be attending EAG Washington DC - 23-35 September 2022

We are proud to announce that we are funding recipients of the EA Animal Welfare Fund, as well as the Animal Charity Evaluators’ Movement Grants.

The EA Animal Welfare Fund aims to effectively improve the well-being of nonhuman animals, by making grants that focus on one or more of the following:

• Relatively neglected geographic regions or groups of animals

• Promising research into animal advocacy or animal well-being

• Activities that could make it easier to help animals in the future

• Otherwise best-in-class opportunities

Every year, Animal Charity Evaluators carries out a thorough process to identify new and promising animal advocacy projects to fund, such as:

• Groups working on various approaches to animal advocacy

• Those that are underfunded

• Target large numbers of animals

• And are in regions with a relatively limited animal advocacy movement

Operations Lead (Remote) - We are looking for a proactive and detail-oriented Operations Lead who will feel comfortable working with operations advisors across jurisdictions (UK, India and Vietnam, to begin with) as well as actively contribute to our strategic planning and implementation.

Field Coordinator (India)- We are looking for a generalist in-country field coordinator to assist with our supply-side work in India.