In September 2024, Dong Thap Community College held a half-day workshop on aquatic animal welfare as part of their project “Development and validation of morphological and biometric welfare indicators for basa fish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) in the Đồng Tháp (Mekong Delta)” under the “Improving Farmed Fish Welfare in Asia” project. The aim was to provide an update on the project and particularly to give students who had been carrying out research the opportunity to present their work and discuss findings. The workshop was opened by the Rector of Dong Thap Community College, Dr Pham Quang Huy.
After the introductory speech, the first keynote talk was from Mr Haven Kings-Nobles of the Fish Welfare Initiative. He briefly introduced the organisation and their work across Asia and then particularly focused on the results of a fish welfare scoping study they conduced in Vietnam. This had highlighted the following issues:
Stress duiring the transportation and slaughter process
Poor welfare conditions in the wet markets
A lack of stunning before slaughter
Water quality management issues
Their initial recommendations included corporate outreach, especially with exporters, encouraging farm and university collaborations and the use of more localized messaging. (See presentation slides online).
The second keynote presentation was from Dr Piotr Eljasik on the use of operational welfare indicators for pangasius, which is the main focus on the Open Philanthropy funded research. After a brief introduction to the context and essential principles of animal welfare he outlined the methodology that was followed to collect data as the basis for producing operational welfare indicators for farmers. The main findings were:
The most important causes of losses on farms were diseae and poor quality seed, followed by problems with feeds and waer quality
Farmers showed high interest in a visual scoring system for welfare indicators
Initial factors identified for use as indicators included skin damage, fin damage, eye condition, parasites and relative weight.
The keynote talks (in English) were followed by the main scientific programme for the workshop which involved presentations by staff and students of the colleage as follows:
Fish welfare in indigenous culture - Nguyen Thanh Liem, Đong Thap Museum
Some Lessons Learned from Participating in the Fish Welfare Project - Nguyen Tuan Kiet
Nutritional and Health Standards in the Animal Welfare Assessment Protocol for Tilapia by FAI Company - Huynh Nguyen Nguyen Ha (FAI Farm), Tran Minh Phu and Nguyen Quoc Thinh (Can Tho University)
Challenges in sampling in Viet Nam that foreigners should be aware of - Student Nguyen Truong Sang
How is Fish Welfare different from Human Welfare? - Student Nguyen Hoang Anh
Some Equipment for Fish Welfare - Student Tran Cong Thanh
Application of ESP32 CAM in Fish Welfare - MSc. Tran Thanh Toan, Lecturer, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dong Thap Community College
Artificial Intelligence Applications in Fish Welfare - MSc. Nguyen Thi Cam Tu, Dong Thap Community College
Fish farming in Laos - Youdthakid Vadsana, student
Current Status of Aquaculture Welfare for Some Species of Catfish and Solutions - MSc. Lam Tan Phat and Dr. Nguyen Quang Trung, Can Tho Technical Economic College
Fish Welfare Certification - MSc. Ta Hoang Banh, Lecturer, Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture, Dong Thap Community College
