Scoping Work in India

Hello from Shrimp Welfare Project,

We’ve just returned from a month-long visit to India, where we visited many stakeholders in the shrimp supply chain, including hatcheries, nurseries, grow-out farms and a processing plant. We met with several forward-thinking farmers who have expressed their interest in collaborating with us and participating in a pilot test.

This builds on the work we undertook in collaboration with FIAPO (the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations) in December, where FIAPO visited 20 shrimp farms on our behalf, interviewed farmers and gathered information, including taking water quality readings. These two visits have resulted in our India Scoping Report outlining our findings and next steps.

Finally, we’re really excited to introduce our new program coordinators for both India (Sri Rang K) and Vietnam (Lien Huong Trinh) - more information about both of them can be found below.

Have a great week!

Andrés and Aaron | Shrimp Welfare Project co-founders

We’re excited to share our first scoping report, which discusses:

1. The importance of shrimp welfare

2. Why we chose India as an implementation country

3. Our findings after having undertaken spoken to more a two dozen stakeholders in the shrimp farming industry

We’re excited to introduce our new Program Coordinators that will be leading the on-the-ground work in our intervention countries - India and Vietnam.

Sri Rang K (India) - Previously a program coordinator at the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO). Has a background in advertising and has worked as a creative strategist for various trade shows and some Indian corporations. Sri Rang aims to minimise the suffering of animals as much as possible.

Liên Hương Trịnh (Vietnam) - MA in Human Rights from Central European University. 8 years of experience with international non-profits and research institutes in Singapore, Hungary and Vietnam. Passionate about animal welfare, social justice, and arts.

If you’re attending EAG London this year, be sure to pop along to the Fireside Chat at Barbican Hall on Sat 16th, 2-3PM, for a conversion on The State of Aquatic Animal Advocacy. Our very own Andrés will be one of the speakers, along with Sophika Kostyniuk from the Aquatic Life Institute (ALI) and Alex Holst from the Good Food Institute (GFI). Bruce Friedrich (Founder and CEO of GFI) will be moderating.

Finally, we’re excited to share the fantastic news that the UK Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill has now passed through the final stage in Parliament, including all the necessary stages in both the House of Lords and the House of Commons. This means that once the Queen gives it her approval the Sentience Bill becomes the Sentience Act.

This means that shrimps and other decapods have their first legal protection in UK history and will be recognised as sentient in UK law. This is a huge win for decapods and our friends at Crustacean Compassion, who have been working tirelessly to make this a reality.