Readiness Before Reform: The Next Step in Aquatic Animal Welfare
Every year, organisations invest significant time, expertise, and resources into improving aquatic animal welfare. Governments develop national strategies. Academic institutions introduce welfare into teaching and research. Aquaculture producers respond to evolving market expectations, certification requirements, and consumer demand. International organisations and donors invest millions in programmes designed to improve the lives of aquatic animals.
These are all positive developments, but consider the following. Imagine investing in curriculum development only to discover there are no suitably trained staff to deliver it. Imagine funding welfare training only to find farms lack the management systems needed to apply what staff and students have learnt. Imagine launching a national aquatic animal health and welfare strategy before understanding whether universities, regulators, and industry have the capacity to implement it.
These are not failures of ambition. They are reminders that successful implementation depends on having the right foundations in place.
Perhaps we have been asking the wrong question. Rather than asking, "How do we improve aquatic animal welfare?" perhaps we should first ask, "Are we actually ready to improve aquatic animal welfare?"
Readiness comes before implementation
Whether your goal is to strengthen teaching, prepare for future market requirements, develop an evidence-based national strategy, or maximise the impact of capacity-building investments, the first step is understanding whether your organisation is ready to succeed.
Successful implementation depends on strong leadership, institutional commitment, skilled people, appropriate resources and infrastructure, industry engagement, supportive policy environments, and long-term planning. Without these foundations, even the best-designed welfare initiatives may struggle to achieve lasting success.
Understanding readiness allows organisations to identify what is already in place, where important gaps exist, and what should be prioritised before significant investments are made.
Although every organisation approaches aquatic animal welfare from a different perspective, they all face a common challenge: making decisions about where to invest limited time, funding, and resources.
Yet important questions often remain unanswered:
Academic institutions must decide where to strengthen teaching and research.
Aquaculture businesses need to prioritise investments that improve welfare while supporting productivity and market access.
Government institutions must determine where national capacity-building efforts will have the greatest impact, while donors seek confidence that their investments will lead to meaningful and sustainable change.
Non-governmental organisations need to target programmes where they will achieve the greatest impact, and
Certification bodies benefit from understanding whether organisations are prepared to implement welfare standards successfully rather than simply comply with them.
The AAWRI helps each of these groups replace assumptions with evidence, enabling them to identify priorities, strengthen organisational capacity before significant investment is made, and make better-informed strategic decisions before committing significant resources.
Different organisations face different challenges
One of the biggest misconceptions in aquatic animal welfare is that every organisation faces the same barriers. In reality, the challenges experienced by universities are very different from those facing producers, governments, or development organisations. A single solution cannot meet every need. Recognising these differences is the first step towards developing effective and sustainable welfare programmes.
For universities and higher education institutions
Many academic institutions recognise the growing importance of aquatic animal welfare. They may want to strengthen teaching, expand research programmes, support postgraduate training, and respond to increasing expectations from industry, accreditation bodies, and society.
At the same time, many institutions are seeking to improve graduate employability, ensure curricula remain relevant to evolving industry needs, strengthen partnerships with the aquaculture sector, translate research into practical application, and close the gap between academic knowledge and professional practice.
Yet important questions often remain unanswered.
Do staff have sufficient expertise?
Is welfare embedded throughout the curriculum or confined to a few modules?
Are appropriate teaching resources available?
Does institutional leadership actively support welfare education?
Are partnerships available to support research and curriculum development?
Do graduates develop the knowledge, practical skills and competencies required by employers?
Is research effectively translated into teaching, policy and professional practice?
Without understanding institutional readiness, curriculum reform can become fragmented and difficult to sustain.
While numerous frameworks assess animal welfare outcomes and compliance, relatively few focus on whether institutions have the capacity to deliver meaningful welfare education, research, and professional training. The Aquatic Animal Welfare Readiness Index (AAWRI) was developed to help address that gap by providing universities with a structured way to evaluate their current position, identify priorities, develop realistic implementation plans, and make better-informed investment decisions.
More importantly, it is far more than a curriculum planning tool. It is a strategic framework for institutional development. By understanding their current level of readiness, universities can strengthen teaching, research and professional training while building the capability needed to attract research funding, establish international collaborations, respond to evolving accreditation requirements and develop graduates with skills that industry increasingly values. The framework also helps institutions evaluate whether their curricula remain relevant to the changing needs of the aquaculture sector, whether research is translating into meaningful practice, and whether graduates are equipped with the competencies needed to improve aquatic animal welfare in professional settings.
Rather than simply adding aquatic animal welfare to existing programmes, institutions can position themselves as national or regional centres of excellence in aquatic animal welfare education, research, and innovation.
For farmers and the aquaculture industry
Aquaculture producers face a different set of challenges. Markets increasingly expect evidence of responsible production, while certification schemes continue to evolve. Customers, retailers, exporters, investors and financial institutions are placing greater emphasis on animal welfare alongside productivity, sustainability and food safety. At the same time, producers must balance welfare improvements with operational efficiency, business performance and long-term profitability. Many producers genuinely want to improve welfare, but practical questions arise.
Where should investment in aquatic animal welfare be prioritised?
Are current management systems capable of supporting improved welfare?
Do staff possess the knowledge, skills and confidence to implement welfare practices consistently?
Are standard operating procedures sufficient?
Are welfare responsibilities clearly defined?
Is the business prepared for future market expectations?
Does the organisation have the leadership and governance needed to embed welfare into day-to-day operations?
Are welfare objectives aligned with broader sustainability and ESG commitments?
The AAWRI helps producers understand how prepared their business is to implement welfare improvements successfully and where resources should be directed for the greatest impact. Rather than reacting to changing market expectations, producers can identify opportunities to strengthen management systems, improve staff competency, reduce implementation barriers and address operational weaknesses before they become costly.
By identifying and strengthening the organisational capabilities that support successful welfare implementation, businesses are better positioned to improve operational efficiency, reduce avoidable losses, meet market expectations and sustain long-term performance.
For governments and national programmes
Governments frequently invest substantial resources in developing national aquatic animal welfare strategies. Yet implementation rarely occurs uniformly across institutions, regions, or production sectors.
Some universities may be well prepared while others have limited expertise. Some industries may already be adopting welfare practices while others are only beginning their journey. Government agencies often differ in their technical capacity and available resources.
Without understanding this variation, national planning becomes difficult.
The AAWRI provides governments with an evidence-based framework for strategic planning and investment. Rather than assuming that every institution or sector is equally prepared, governments can identify where capacity already exists, where critical gaps remain, and where investment is most likely to generate lasting impact.
The framework supports the development of realistic national strategies, helps prioritise limited public resources, and enables progress to be monitored over time. Instead of implementing a one-size-fits-all approach, governments can target interventions where they are needed most, increasing the likelihood that welfare policies translate into meaningful and sustainable change.
Non-governmental organisations
Many organisations working to improve aquatic animal welfare face difficult strategic decisions. Limited funding means programmes cannot be implemented everywhere, and not every partner organisation has the same capacity to sustain change.
Important questions include:
Which countries are most ready for welfare programmes?
Which universities would make strong implementation partners?
Which producer groups have the leadership and infrastructure needed for success?
Where are the biggest barriers likely to occur?
Which organisations require capacity building before programme delivery?
How can programme impact be demonstrated to donors?
The AAWRI helps NGOs move beyond selecting projects based solely on opportunity or existing relationships. Instead, it provides an evidence-based approach to assessing organisational readiness, prioritising investments, identifying implementation risks, and tailoring interventions to local capacity.
Rather than applying the same programme everywhere, NGOs can allocate resources more strategically, improve sustainability, strengthen donor accountability, and maximise welfare outcomes.
For donors and development organisations
Development organisations face an equally important challenge. Every investment competes for limited resources, making it essential to understand where funding is most likely to achieve lasting impact.
The AAWRI provides donors with an evidence-based decision-support framework for directing investment more effectively. Before committing resources to curriculum development, training programmes, policy reform, research capacity, or industry initiatives, the Index helps evaluate the organisational factors that influence successful implementation, allowing investment decisions to be based on evidence rather than assumptions.
As a decision-support tool, it helps funders justify why certain organisations, institutions, or regions may be prioritised over others based on readiness rather than assumptions alone. It also provides a baseline against which progress can be measured, allowing donors to demonstrate impact and adapt future investments using objective evidence.
More than an assessment
The AAWRI is more than an assessment tool. It is a decision-support framework that helps organisations move beyond assumptions and make informed decisions about where to invest time, effort, and resources.
Its purpose is not to measure how much organisations care about aquatic animal welfare, but to determine whether the capacity to turn ambition into lasting implementation exists. Rather than asking "What should we do?", the framework helps answer more fundamental questions: should we invest here? What should we do first? Where are our biggest barriers? Are we ready for certification? Are we ready for curriculum reform? Are we ready for a national strategy? Where will donor funding have the greatest impact? How can we measure progress over time?
By providing a structured picture of readiness, the AAWRI enables organisations to prioritise actions, reduce implementation risk, and build welfare programmes on stronger foundations.
The AAWRI has been adapted for different stakeholder groups, recognising that universities, NGOs, governments and producers face different implementation challenges and require different evidence to support decision making.
Readiness for specific welfare interventions
The AAWRI is not limited to assessing general readiness for aquatic animal welfare. It can also be applied to specific welfare interventions before organisations commit significant resources to implementation.
For example, a producer considering the introduction of electrical stunning, a university planning to establish a new aquatic animal welfare programme, or a government preparing to implement national welfare standards all face the same fundamental question: Are we ready?
By adapting the tool to a specific initiative or organisation, the AAWRI can identify whether the factors that influence successful implementation are already in place. This enables organisations to identify barriers early, prioritise investment, reduce implementation risk, and develop practical roadmaps for successful adoption.
In this way, the AAWRI becomes more than a measure of organisational capacity—it becomes a practical decision-support tool for implementing meaningful welfare change.
More than a score
The purpose of the AAWRI is not to rank organisations but to help them improve. A lower readiness score should not be viewed as a weakness.
Instead, it identifies opportunities to strengthen leadership, knowledge, governance, infrastructure, partnerships, and implementation capacity before major welfare initiatives are introduced. By identifying strengths and weaknesses early, organisations can make better-informed decisions and build capacity in a structured and sustainable way.
The AAWRI can be used throughout the implementation lifecycle, including:
before funding
during implementation
after implementation
every two years
before certification
before curriculum reform
Building stronger welfare systems
Animal welfare is often discussed in terms of training, legislation, certification, or best practice. These are all essential. However, they represent only part of the picture. Long-term success ultimately depends on whether the systems supporting those initiatives are equipped.
Ultimately, better aquatic animal welfare does not begin with implementation. It begins with understanding whether the people, systems, leadership, resources, and partnerships needed to support change are already in place.
Readiness is not the end goal. It is the foundation upon which meaningful and lasting welfare improvement is built.
Interested in assessing your organisation's welfare readiness?
Whether you are an academic institution seeking to strengthen aquatic animal welfare education, an aquaculture business preparing for future welfare requirements, a government institution developing a national aquatic animal health and welfare strategy, or a donor seeking to maximise the impact of capacity-building investments, understanding your current level of readiness is the first step towards meaningful and sustainable change.
Aquaglobal Veterinary Consulting has developed this Index to help organisations identify strengths, prioritise investment, and develop practical roadmaps for aquatic animal welfare implementation. Get in contact if you would like to explore how the framework could support your organisation, business, university, development program, or government agency to identify the most appropriate application of the framework.
The AAWRI is delivered as a structured assessment supported by tailored recommendations. Each application is adapted to the context of the organisation, recognising that readiness challenges differ across universities, producers, governments, and development partners. If your organisation is considering investing in aquatic animal welfare, the first question should not be "Where do we start?" but "Are we ready?
Written by Sasha Saugh
Aquatic Veterinarian | Founder, Aquaglobal Veterinary Consulting
