NACA is set to embark on a journey with FAI Farms to educate, train and support fish and shrimp farmers on animal welfare.

FAI has been collaborating with Brazilian tilapia farmers since 2018. Large tilapia producers such as Global Peixes and BTJ have used FAI welfare assessment to adapt their standard operating procedures to consider animal welfare. They found that improving fish welfare has a direct positive impact on production performance. FAI is now moving towards new horizons by including two new species for their welfare assessment protocols (white shrimp and common carp) and expanding their reach to Asia. NACA is pleased to join on the adventure and promote welfare in the aquaculture industry in Southeast Asia.

NACA and FAI are currently working on a program for the coming year to educate and train farmers on fish and shrimp welfare through a series of workshops and webinars. Furthermore, the series of online training courses “Welfare in tilapia production guideline” will be freely available to the NACA network to disseminate knowledge on the welfare of aquatic animals.

In addition to trainings, workshops and online courses, FAI has developed a Tilapia welfare application that will put welfare directly into the hands of the farmer. The app is an easy-to-use tool to record production parameters such as water quality, feeding practices and fish health. Based on the information recorded, farmers will receive instant welfare scores that will tell them what aspect of the production impacts the wellbeing of the fish. The guidelines and resources, provided by the application to improve welfare scores, will help farmers to take better care of their fish and, at the end of the day, produce a higher quality product.

To learn more about the tilapia welfare project and the app, you can visit the website https://www.mytilapia.farm/