fair‑fish was founded in Switzerland in 2000 as a pioneering organisation to promote the welfare of fishes in fisheries and aquaculture. Founder Billo Heinzpeter Studer tells the story of fair‑fish in his book published in 2020. A fish organisation born in landlocked Switzerland? Considering that the average adult and child each ate around 9 kilograms of fishes and shellfishes in 2022, i.e. a total of more than 75,000 tonnes, this no longer seems far-fetched. Switzerland eats an above-average amount of protein from the sea and imports an enormous amount of fishes from all over the world – only around 2% of fishes are produced domestically. According to publicly available sources, Switzerland imported fishes and seafood worth around 888 million Swiss francs in 2022.
Since the organisation was founded, knowledge about fishes has multiplied, not least thanks to our fair‑fish database and the international research projects in which we are involved. And laypeople are also increasingly realising that fishes are creatures that can feel fear, joy, and suffering. Questions about overfishing and fish welfare keep coming up at the fish counter, which the retail trade wants to answer. International laws are also finally starting to take care of the fishes. Individual farms and fishing companies are implementing the first measures for fish welfare, such as improving living conditions in the cages or tanks where fishes are farmed or using ethical stunning and slaughter methods when catching fishes. New more animal-friendly fishing methods are also emerging.
But there is still a long way to go to achieve sustainable and animal-friendly farming and fishing.
We want to change people's perception of and attitude towards fishes. We are focussing on science and communication.
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