In new consumer research presented by Globescan at the 2025 Responsible Seafood Summit in Cartagena, welfare featured higher in importance than has been seen previously.
Often overlooked by consumers in comparison to research investigating perceptions of terrestrial animals, 61 percent of those surveyed rated welfare as an "important factor when choosing seafood products", sitting alongside other responsible practices. More conventional drivers - such as food safety, taste, health and price - still dominated consumer opinion, but welfare’s growing recognition as "important" is seen as being encouraging by organisations such as FAI, which has been working for decades in the farmed animal welfare space.
FAI also notes that consumers are not alone in prioritising welfare. New data from Rabobank and the Global Seafood Alliance presented in Cartagena revealed welfare as a leading response from both finfish and shrimp producers when asked about sustainability. Around 80 percent indicated they are implementing practices to improve welfare.
Having not been included in previous Rabobank figures, this high ranking might be news to some, but FAI is "delighted to see impetus building".
As FAI senior programme consultant Jon Walton said in a press release: “FAI has always seen welfare as critical to sustainability in animal agriculture. This shows the aquaculture industry has recognised fish welfare is not just a consumer concern, but the cornerstone of a sustainable, profitable business.”
Certification strengthening welfare requirements
This recognition of welfare is being seen in certification programmes too, cementing its place in the industry’s future direction.
In April, the Humane Farm Animals Care Certified Humane Welfare Standards for Farmed Tilapia were launched. The prerogative of Certified Humane is to have standards based on scientific research, international best practice and expert input.
The standards include detailed guidelines for all stages of tilapia production covering topics such as water quality, feeding and nutrition, humane handling and transport, and fish health and welfare. They expect this certification to add value for tilapia producers.
Equally, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has released a significant update to its certification programme by launching a new unified Farm Standard, coming into force in May 2027 after a two-year transition period. This ASC update consolidates multiple species-specific standards into a single, integrated framework for aquaculture operations.
In addition to enhanced social and environmental requirements, the update has particularly strong animal welfare criteria. The new standard takes a holistic approach to welfare. Building on the basics of health and welfare plans with veterinary oversight, it has introduced requirements for monitoring operational welfare indicators (OWIs) to support producers in understanding and improving fish welfare.
The standard also requires producers to move over a three-year period to ablation-free shrimp broodstock and to implement humane slaughter, with effective stunning across all species.
The Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification programme has also updated its salmon standard, with improvements across its welfare criteria. These include a greater emphasis on the use of OWIs, tighter controls on humane slaughter and higher requirements on cleaner fish welfare, all absent in the previous standard.
Giving farmers the tools to change
According to FAI, the emphasis on welfare indicators in these standards reviews are central to improving welfare.
From this, easy-to-use assessment tools, such as the tilapia welfare app, help farmers make the changes on farm they are seeking. Farmers are those best positioned to improve fish welfare, and these tools empower them to do so.
As FAI explains: "Training farmers and other aligned professionals not only improves the welfare of their animals but with it comes better efficiency, productivity and profitability. Improved fish welfare not only leads to healthier fish but to a better product for consumers and greater financial returns for farmers."
