CREATING A BETTER FUTURE FOR AQUATIC ANIMALS
Celebrating 6 years of impactful change!
Why aquatic animals?
At Aquatic Life Institute, we’re dedicated to driving systems-level change for the trillions of aquatic animals within the global seafood industry.
Aquatic animals represent the overwhelming majority of animals in global food systems, yet their welfare remains largely absent from sustainability agendas and policy frameworks. Annually, 1.1 - 2.2 trillion wild finfish are caught - a staggering figure that does not account for unrecorded captures from illegal fishing, discards, and ghost fishing. It's estimated that 630 billion farmed shrimp, a species increasingly recognized for their sentience, are slaughtered annually for food.
These figures highlight the immense scale of suffering for aquatic animals within our global food system, underscoring the urgent need for improved welfare and protection. As the only organization working on institutional transformation for aquatic animals in global food systems, our goal is clear: ensure aquatic animal welfare is recognized, prioritized, and protected in the frameworks that govern life below water.
Our Mission
Aquatic Life Institute (ALI) is committed to creating a more just and sustainable food system by championing the recognition, protection, and prioritization of aquatic animal welfare; anchored in science, integrated across supply chains, and entrenched in global wellbeing.
At our core, we are a systems-change organization working to uplift how aquatic animals are perceived and treated in the global seafood industry.
Our work is grounded in sentientist ethics, informed by effective altruism principles, and designed for real-world impacts.
What We Do
ALI is dedicated to driving institutional reform across the seafood industry, where animal welfare, sustainability, and human health are no longer disparate goals, but equally recognized as vital ingredients of a viable future. As a leader in this movement, we champion aquatic animal welfare through industry and legislative guidance, fostering trusted partnerships to drive ethical and sustainable practices across the global seafood supply chain.
-
Industry and Corporate
We collaborate with retailers to create welfare policies and key industry stakeholders, including producers, to improve welfare considerations in their seafood supply chains.
-
Octopus Campaign
We work across policy, certification, and scientific advocacy to prevent octopus farming before it reaches commercial scale.
-
Policy Initiatives
We engage with international organizations, including the EU and FAO, to influence changes in policies on a global scale.
-
Research
We conduct research to support guiding bodies and market actors define high welfare and to influence industry, corporate, and legislative change.
-
Coalition Building
We unite nonprofits, academic institutions, industry stakeholders, and the public to achieve more for the animals.
-
Certifier Campaign
We help seafood certifiers define high welfare seafood products in both aquaculture and marine capture fisheries.
Systemic Transformation
ALI believes that in order to truly safeguard aquatic animals, we must transform the very systems that shape their lives. We also believe the most scalable and durable protections for aquatic animals come from upstream influence: changing policies, systems, and social norms so problems are prevented rather than merely managed. We target the root causes of suffering by hard-wiring welfare into the frameworks that govern seafood supply chains.
We approach impact measurement by evaluating how aquatic animal welfare progresses through three interconnected stages of influence across the global food system: recognition, protection, and prioritization.
Recognition: Making welfare visible and legitimate
Protection: Converting norms into rules
Prioritization: Embedding welfare in decisions
Impact by the Numbers: The Highlights
2.4 billion
Total estimated number of fishes covered by major aquaculture certification schemes in ALI’s Benchmark
64.8 billion
Total estimated number of shrimps covered by major aquaculture certification schemes in ALI’s Benchmark
10 million
Total number of octopuses potentially spared if all currently proposed U.S. state and federal legislation passes*
*Estimates based on the output of a single commercial facility (e.g., Nueva Pescanova: 3,000tonnes/year ≈ 1 million animals)
Featured in
