Impact: Improved welfare of millions of 22.9 million tilapia

Project Description: Regal Springs embarked on an R&D project to develop, test and commercially deploy the first electric stunner for the warm water fish species Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) to eliminate sub-standard slaughter practices in all its operations.

Regal Springs is responsible for the harvest of about tens of million tilapia fish every year. It is well documented that standard pre-slaughter methods such as ice baths and asphyxiation are not able to efficiently minimise the suffering that fish are exposed to during slaughter. These practices are not only negatively impacting fish welfare, but also the welfare of the human operators responsible for the bleeding (slaughter) of these fish. When slaughter was performed by gill cutting without previous effective stunning, the fish would flap violently during the gill-cutting process, resulting in health and safety issues for the operators and unhygienic environment for all.

The new electric stunners now in use in all operations have enormously improved welfare of all fish at harvest and health and safety of staff at the processing plant receiving areas.

Partners: Ace Aquatec, the Nautilus Collaboration and The Centre for Responsible Seafood (TCRS)
Budget: ~  > 1$ million
Date: 2023