Filename: WAM19894 Headline: Densely packed red hybrid tilapia lie motionless in the murky water of a floating pond after being sedated with clove oil during the harvest at a fish farm in Thailand. Clove oil is a fast acting sedative that is used to calm fish prior to the harvest, making it easier for workers to handle the fish and minimize damage to them from too much struggling. Thailand, 2021. Mako Kurokawa / Sinergia Animal / We Animals Description: This tilapia fish farm is typical of large-scale tilapia fish farms that supply fish to corporate supermarket chains and wholesale markets for local and international distribution. The rearing of juvenile fish starts in ponds, where minerals from the pond's soil promote their growth. At this stage of their lives, many farms give the fish hormone treatments for 21 days, artificially forcing them to develop into males. This is a common practice in tilapia aquaculture as male fish direct their energy towards growth and are preferred over females for general consumption. At three months of age, the tilapia on this farm are transferred to floating net pens, located in a river. This farm had 300 such net pens which, according to the farmer, hold 1,000 to 1,300 fish each. The densities of the fish within each pen are reduced by the farm when they feel the growth and survival rate of the fish is being affected. The water in the pens is dark and murky and is oxygenated by the farm through aeration to mitigate periods of low water quality and to control its oxygen level. The owner of the farm told us during an interview that the fish are medicated with antibiotics to fight bacterial infections, of which the Streptococcus genus of bacteria is the most common. Bacterial infections are on the rise in farms like this one, affecting roughly half of the fish, which the farm attributes to increased sedimentation from upstream. After administering antibiotics, the farmer must wait three weeks before harvesting the fish, since the supermarket he sells to requires that the fish have no antibiotic residue. The fish remain in the river pens for three to five months until they reach market weight. Live fish are transported to market inside barrels containing oxygenated water. To reduce stress-induced injury or death from handling and transport, on this farm the tilapia are first sedated with clove oil as part of the harvesting and transportation process. Fish that are transported dead are killed by immersing them in chilled water, which also preserves them en route to market. Since buyers will reject entire shipments of fish if even a few animals do not meet the required standards, the farms must adhere to strict weight and quality requirements, a situation not generally known to the wider public. For the population of Thailand, a Southeast Asian country of nearly 70 million people, fish are a primary source of protein. This coastal nation has a massive aquaculture industry and is one of the world's major exporters of seafood, but its supply chain remains relatively obscure. Though farmed like terrestrial animals, the welfare of fish raised in aquaculture is often overlooked, and reports of their mishandling and poor living conditions have been increasing the world over. In collaboration with Sinergia Animal, during a week-long investigation, We Animals documented the supply chain and welfare of widely farmed fish species in Thailand's aquaculture industry, specifically focusing on tilapia, of which Thailand is a significant world producer. Area of Focus: Food Systems,Aquatic Life,Farmed Animals,Fish & Crustaceans Supplemental categories: Aquaculture, Food Systems City: Undisclosed Country: Thailand Photographer/Filmmaker: Mako Kurokawa Credit: Mako Kurokawa / Sinergia Animal / We Animals Year: 2021 License Type(s): Non-Commercial Use, Commercial Use WA Keywords: Scientific name: Oreochromis sp Size: 7235px X 4823px

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