Between Food and Respect for Nature: On the Moral Ambiguity of Norwegian Stakeholder Opinions on Fish and Their Welfare in Technological Innovations in Fisheries

Danielle Caroline Laursen,Franck L B Meijboom

doi:10.1007/s10806-021-09849-0

Abstract

Innovation in fisheries is a global development that focuses on a broad range of aims. One example is a project that aims to develop technology for key phases of the demersal fishery operation to improve product quality and safeguard fish welfare. As this step to include welfare is novel, it raises questions associated with stakeholder acceptance in a wider aim for responsible innovation. How do stakeholders (a) value fish and their welfare and (b) consider the relation between welfare and other relevant values? To address these questions, an approach combining desk research with an empirical study was used. The desk study analysed the ethical and biological arguments for whether fish welfare should be accounted for in this context. The empirical study explored how fish and their welfare are perceived by Norwegian professionals in this industry, by conducting semi-structured interviews and subsequently analysing the results based on a labelling method we developed. The desk study showed a consensus that welfare should be considered in its own right, while at face value the interviews presented a rather instrumental view on this theme. However, analysis of the interview results leads to a more nuanced picture, where fish and their welfare are viewed from the perspective of respect for nature. Despite the apparent divergence between stakeholder opinions and the literature on the importance of welfare, we present three steps that enables professionals to be responsive to both the (moral) views of stakeholders and accounting for welfare in the innovation process fisheries.

Highlights

There is a broad range of motivations for developing technology in the context of commercial fisheries, a practice that refers to the capture of wild fish and other consumable species for profit
Fish welfare in the commercial fisheries setting is expected to become a significant issue in the future (Kaiser & Huntingford, 2009; Lambooij et al, 2012)
It is relevant to address the concerns for fish welfare through technological development, i.e. developing new and improving on existing methods

Summary

Introduction

There is a broad range of motivations for developing technology in the context of commercial fisheries, a practice that refers to the capture of wild fish and other consumable species for profit. The welfare of fish remains a relatively novel concept in the practice of commercial fisheries and has received little attention in research and development to date (Huntingford et al, 2006; Lambooij et al, 2012). Reasons for this lack of attention may be due to the fact that knowledge in this area is limited (Veldhuizen et al, 2018). The bottom trawl fishery operation consists of towing a funnel or cone shaped net along the seabed by a vessel at a wide range of depths This process consists of different phases: capture, hauling and slaughter. After the catch has been hauled in, the fish are usually transferred to holding bins without water onboard the fishing vessel until they are slaughtered by bleeding (Erikson, 2018, pers. comm.)

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