On 7th November 2023, The University of Stirling formalised its agreement to support the Vietnam Institute of Fisheries Economics and Planning (VIFEP) in implementing the project “Assessing the status of awareness, behaviour, best practices and proposing solutions related to improving animal welfare in shrimp value chains in the Mekong River Delta in Viet Nam”

To implement the project, VIFEP has been conducting document reviews to systematize the theoretical basis, concepts, and research approaches to assess animal welfare applying to the shrimp value chain.

The project team also identified stakeholders, hot issues and concerns related to animal welfare in the shrimp value chain in Vietnam. Through this activity the team has defined clearly the key stakeholders and hot issues that will be focused on during the conduct of the research, in line with the project proposal. Questionnaires which will be used in conducting surveys and an outline of the planned research report also have been developing by project team.

In December 2023 the project team has proactively visited certain certificated shrimp seed hatcheries in Binh Thuan province, which is the high quality shrimp seed production centre of Viet Nam, providing shrimp seed for almost provinces including Ca Mau and Bac Lieu Provinces, to collect data and information about best practices and good stories on improving animal welfare in shrimp seed production.

The next field trip to survey other stakeholders (feed and chemical providers; shrimp farmers, processing enterprises etc.) will be conducted from 26th February to 10th March 2024. The aim is to clarify the current status of animal welfare in the shrimp value chain including awareness, understanding and behaviours of stakeholders, stories and/or best practices as well as recommendations.