Project summary

The Aquatic Animal Alliance (AAA) is a high-impact global coalition, strategically mobilizing the strengths of the animal protection movement to alleviate the suffering of some of the most neglected species—aquatic animals—exploited within the industrial global food system. With over 150 member organizations across 75 countries, AAA operates as a central hub, catalyzing collaboration and innovation to influence key stakeholders, including policymakers, corporations, and seafood certification standards.

Led by Aquatic Life Institute, AAA is a pivotal community-building initiative that magnifies the collective impact of its members by providing technical expertise and leadership in global and local campaigns. This approach not only generates substantial global impact but also empowers regional and local efforts driven by member organizations.

The Aquatic Animal Alliance leads the following projects:

Certifier campaign (ali.fish/certifier-campaign): We engage with the largest certification schemes in the seafood industry to improve their aquatic animal welfare standards. A change in a certification standard has the potential to impact hundreds of millions of aquatic animals exploited in the global food system every year. 

Corporate engagement: We engage with corporations (retailers and suppliers) to improve the welfare of aquatic animals throughout their supply chains, and ban the cruelest practices used by the aquaculture and fishing industries. We will leverage the ratings of our Certifier Benchmark report (ali.fish/aquaculture-certification-benchmark) to guide corporate procurement priorities. We could potentially impact hundreds of thousands of animals with a single corporate policy. 

Policy pursuits (ali.fish/policy): By engaging with policy makers in different countries and regions, we aim to change the regulations of the exploitation of aquatic animals by the aquaculture and fishing industries. We also have an energetic presence in international bodies that influence decision makers around the world such as the UN, FAO, WOAH, etc.

Octopus farming ban campaign (ali.fish/octopus-farming-ban): We strongly oppose the industrial exploitation of octopus in farms due to grave animal welfare, environmental and public health concerns. The vast power and scope of the AAA will support this global campaign to stop this looming threat in different regions before it becomes an established practice. 

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

AAA Goals for 2024

• Drive Systemic Change: Secure the inclusion of our welfare recommendations in 1-2 major certifiers' standards, potentially impacting hundreds of millions of aquatic animals globally.

• Corporate Transformation: Influence corporations to adopt supply chain policies that improve aquatic animal welfare or ban cruel practices, with the potential to affect hundreds of thousands of animals.

• Policy Advancement: Advocate for the introduction of policy, regulation, or legislation at the country or regional level, or for the inclusion of welfare language by an international body, potentially impacting millions of animals.

• Community Empowerment: Strengthen the diversity and unity within the AAA by actively collaborating with the Aquatic Animal Alliance Advisory Council, leveraging their expertise and global networks to advance the aquatic animal welfare agenda.

• Preventing Harm: Act decisively to halt the progress of permits for one proposed octopus farm, thereby preventing the establishment of harmful practices.

Long-Term Goals

• Elevate Welfare Standards: Motivate the seafood industry to adopt and implement higher welfare standards for aquatic animals.

• Global Policy Leadership: Shape how aquatic animal welfare is defined and governed on an international scale.

• Strengthen the Movement: Expand and deepen the global network of advocates dedicated to aquatic animal welfare.

• Sustainability and Trust: Enhance Aquatic Life Institute’s capacity for long-term impact, ensuring sustained public confidence in our work.
  

How will this funding be used?

The funding will enable AAA to amplify its community-building efforts, driving systemic change through collaboration and strategic advocacy. By supporting this initiative, funders will be investing in a high-leverage opportunity to influence global standards and practices, resulting in significant and scalable reductions in suffering for billions of aquatic animals.

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

The Aquatic Animal Alliance (AAA) team is composed of highly skilled professionals with extensive experience in animal advocacy, policy, corporate engagement, and research. Each member plays a strategic role in driving the success of AAA as a community-building initiative with a global impact.

Sophika Kostyniuk, Managing Director

Sophika has over 20 years' of experience in the ocean and forest conservation sectors. She has driven change through global supply chains by creating deep partnerships with diverse networks of actors and engineering practical, actionable solutions for businesses and governments alike.

Catalina Lopez, Director of the Aquatic Animal Alliance

Catalina Lopez is the Director of the Aquatic Animal Alliance. Catalina is a Veterinarian from Colombia, and a member of the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association. She has worked in the farmed animal protection movement for over six years, previously leading the Corporate Engagement team at Mercy For Animals Latin America on their work in cage-free campaigns. In 2023 she was included in the VOX Future Perfect 50 list, which highlights scientists, thinkers, scholars, writers, and activists working on solutions to today's (and tomorrow’s) biggest problems. She is also an active speaker on aquatic animal welfare in conferences such as the World Ocean's Summit, the Animal Grantmakers conference, the Reducetarian Summit and many others.

Giulia Malerbi, Head of Global Policy

Giulia holds a Degree in Animal Breeding Techniques from the University of Pisa, Italy, and an MSc in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics, and Law from the University of Glasgow, Scotland. She is currently advancing her expertise by pursuing an MSL in Animal Law at Lewis & Clark Law School, USA. 

Cecilia Valenza, Corporate Engagement Lead

Cecilia is the Corporate Engagement Lead at Aquatic Life Institute. She has extensive experience in engaging with different stakeholders. Cecilia joined the animal advocacy movement in 2017. She led the corporate relations efforts at Mercy For Animals in Brazil and served as a member of the Open Wings Alliance Advisory Board, a global coalition of animal protection organizations focused on creating a unified front to end the abuse of chickens worldwide. 

Tessa Gonzalez, Head of Research

Tessa Gonzalez studied marine biology/affairs at the University of Miami in her home state of Florida. She worked at several US-based ocean conservation programs before moving to Asia in 2017. Tessa held STEM academic advising and environmental development positions in Beijing, China and Phnom Penh, Cambodia while obtaining a master’s degree in environmental law and policy virtually from Vermont Law School. Tessa joined Aquatic Life Institute in 2020, and is proud to now be the Head of Research where she uses research and communication to help identify, investigate, and propose aquatic animal welfare solutions.

AAA Track Record 2023-2024

Cost-Effectiveness: Our approach prioritizes interventions that offer the highest return on investment by focusing on scalable and systemic changes. 

Scalability: By leveraging our global network of 150+ member organizations across 75 countries, AAA can rapidly scale successful interventions from local to global levels, ensuring that impactful strategies are implemented widely.

Neglectedness: Aquatic animals represent some of the most neglected species in the global food system. By focusing on this overlooked area, the AAA maximizes the potential for making significant and underappreciated contributions to animal welfare. 

Victories and Milestones

• The AAA welcomed 27 new member organizations in 2023 and another 10 in Q1/Q2 2024, strengthening our global presence and impact. The coalition has now over 150 member organizations. 

• We sent 7 comprehensive feedbacks to strengthen certification standards: ali.fish/certifier-feedback

• We published our second aquaculture certification welfare benchmark, which evaluated 7 of the top global certifiers on their welfare standards: ali.fish/aquaculture-certification-benchmark, which led to a series of subsequent discussions with each certifier, and specific recommendations to each certifier on how to improve their scores. In the past year:

  • ASC removed stress tests in shrimp from their standard.

  • Friend of the Sea and RSPCA introduced octopus farming bans

  • 5 certifiers introduced shrimp eye-stalk ablation bans

• The third certifier benchmark will be published in September 2024, which will include 2 new evaluations, Seafood Watch and Soil Association

• 2 major UK retailers (M&S and Waitrose) published eye-stalk ablation bans after discussions with ALI

• Tesco UK has published a comprehensive decapod crustacean welfare policy supported by ALI

• We sent 31 comprehensive recommendations to policymakers including the EU, the UK, New Zealand and South Africa: ali.fish/policy-feedback 

• As part of the AAA, we lead the Aquatic Animal Policy focus group, currently with 49 members specialized in policy interventions: www.policy.fish

• We expanded our octopus farming ban campaign, which includes policy, corporate and certifier engagement strategies: ali.fish/octopus-farming-ban

• Please find a more comprehensive review of our impact in 2023 here: https://ali.fish/impact and our half year report here: https://www.ali.fish/2024-half-year-report 
  

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

The potential risks of failure for the Aquatic Animal Alliance (AAA) revolve around missed opportunities for high-impact interventions in the global food system. Insufficient funding could limit our ability to engage effectively with certifiers, corporations, and policymakers, thereby stalling progress on key initiatives such as the adoption of improved welfare standards or the prevention of harmful practices like octopus farming.

• Missed High-Impact Interventions: Without adequate funding and engagement, AAA risks losing momentum in influencing major certifiers, corporations, and policymakers. This could result in continued neglect of aquatic animal welfare, missed opportunities to prevent the establishment of harmful practices, and diminished influence within the broader animal protection movement.

• Overcoming Industry Resistance: The seafood industry is vast and could be resistant to change. To mitigate this risk, AAA employs a collaborative and strategic approach, leveraging the collective power of our global network and expert advisory council. 

Sustaining Public Confidence: Public trust in the effectiveness of our initiatives is paramount. AAA’s transparent, data-driven approach ensures that our interventions are not only effective but also perceived as credible by the global community. Continuous engagement with stakeholders and regular reporting on our progress will help maintain and strengthen this trust.

What other funding are you or your project getting?

EA Funds

Craigslist

Open Philanthropy