Albert Heijn published their shrimp welfare policy!

Greetings and Happy New Year from Shrimp Welfare Project!

As we begin this new year, we are excited about the ongoing progress, positive changes, and commitments made towards advancing shrimp welfare. Thank you for your continued support, and cheers to a successful and fulfilling year ahead! 

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to forge new paths in shrimp welfare innovation this year. For now, here are a few recent highlights with more details below:

• Albert Heijn’s shrimp welfare policy is now live, where they have committed to using electrical stunning in all of their shrimp volume!

• We published two new reports: the Alternative Shrimp Market, and Consumer Attitudes Towards Shrimp Welfare.

• We held our team retreat, called “Shrimp-posium”, in India where most of the team got together for a successful strategy week.

• We are thrilled to welcome Krzysztof Wojtas as the new Head of Programmes at Shrimp Welfare Project! With over a decade of experience in animal welfare and an impressive background, Krzysztof brings invaluable expertise to our team.

We are still seeking Board Members! As a Board Member, you will play a pivotal role in guiding and supporting our organisation's mission to improve the lives of billions of farmed shrimps. Interested? Find out more and apply here!

Have a great week!

Léa | Communications Lead

Albert Heijn, the leading supermarket brand in the Netherlands, recently published their shrimp welfare policy!

The policy stipulates a commitment to fully adopt electrical stunning and to entirely phase out eyestalk ablation within the company’s supply chain by the first quarter of 2025.

This initiative places Albert Heijn at the forefront of the growing movement towards better shrimp welfare in Europe. We're thrilled that our collaboration has contributed to such a significant outcome. We're eager to continue supporting other retailers, motivating them to make similar commitments to improve shrimp welfare.

Congratulations to Albert Heijn on taking this significant step in the right direction!

We are excited to share our recently published report titled The Alternative Shrimp Market, which provides an analysis of the alternative shrimp market, discussing its growth, current status, and the challenges it faces.

The report highlights that consumer concerns for marine animal welfare, environmental sustainability, health, and transparency are driving a surge in partnerships between major seafood producers and alternative shrimp companies. While the report identifies barriers to consumer uptake, including high production costs and regulatory challenges, the proposed solutions involve open-access research and development, scaling up production of animal-free omega-3 fatty acids, and establishing guaranteed offtake contracts.

In another recently published report, we conducted an exploratory study on consumer attitudes towards shrimp welfare. 

This report details our study which surveyed 393 participants across the UK and major EU countries to understand their views on moral considerations and willingness to pay more for higher welfare shrimp products. We tested participants' initial perceptions of shrimp welfare and sentience through a series of questions. They were then shown a visual infographic with brief overviews of evidence for sentience in shrimps and five common welfare practices. The participants were then asked the same questions again, resulting in significant increases in moral consideration and concerns about welfare practices.

This suggests a growing awareness of shrimp welfare among consumers and provides valuable insights for retailers to align their supply chain commitments with evolving preferences.

Krzysztof Wojtas has a PhD in Fish Welfare, with around 10 years of experience in aquatic animal welfare. He served as a researcher and assistant professor at Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences. He also coordinated the fish welfare working group at Eurogroup for Animals and led the aquatic animal welfare programme and expert team at Compassion in World Farming International.

Welcome to the team Krzysztof!

From November 20 – 24, 2023, the Shrimp Welfare Project team embarked on its annual team retreat, held in the city of Vijayawada, India. Although two team members were unable to join in person, they were still able to participate remotely. The retreat was a dynamic blend of strategic planning sessions, brainstorming, and laying the groundwork for another impactful year of championing shrimp welfare. The week proved to be not only highly productive, but also deeply enlightening, fostering a stronger sense of unity among our team. In this collaborative environment, many valuable ideas and insights surfaced.

If you want to learn more about shrimp welfare and the shrimp farming industry:

• FAI Farms signed an MOU in December with Can Tho University in Vietnam on "Welfare in Aquaculture," which includes some shrimp segments.

• Three of Shrimp Welfare Project’s closest partners (Marks and Spencer Group PLC, Waitrose Ltd, and Young’s Seafood) earned the top 3 spots in The Snapshot (Crustacean Compassion’s industry benchmark). 

• Shrimp Welfare Project was mentioned by ThinkAqua in their presentation titled "Making Waves: Advancements in Aquaculture Welfare" for the 11th International Fisheries Symposium (IFS 2023) in Bangkok, Thailand from November 22 – 24, 2023. 

• ASC received 163 feedback submissions for their Shrimp Health and Welfare consultation! A summary of ASC's responses can be found here.

Job opportunities in aquatic animals:

• Board of Directors - Shrimp Welfare Project

• Board Member - Aquatic Life Institute

• Data Collector - Fish Welfare Initiative 

• Aquatic Animals Programme Leader - Eurogroup for Animals