Aquatic food security:insights into challenges and solutions from an analysis of interactions between fisheries, aquaculture, food safety, human health, fish and human welfare, economy and environment

Fisheries and aquaculture production, imports, exports and equitability of distribution determine the supply of aquatic food to people. Aquatic food security is achieved when a food supply is sufficient, safe, sustainable, shockproof and sound: sufficient, to meet needs and preferences of people; safe, to provide nutritional benefit while posing minimal health risks; sustainable, to provide food now and for future generations; shock-proof, to provide resilience to shocks in production systems and supply chains; and sound, to meet legal and ethical standards for welfare of animals, people and environment. Here, we present an integrated assessment of these elements of the aquatic food system in the United Kingdom, a system linked to dynamic global networks of producers, processors and markets. Our assessment addresses sufficiency of supply from aquaculture, fisheries and trade; safety of supply given biological, chemical and radiation hazards; social, economic and environmental sustainability of production systems and supply chains; system resilience to social, economic and environmental shocks; welfare of fish, people and environment; and the authenticity of food. Conventionally, these aspects of the food system are not assessed collectively, so information supporting our assessment is widely dispersed. Our assessment reveals trade-offs and challenges in the food system that are easily overlooked in sectoral analyses of fisheries, aquaculture, health, medicine, human and fish welfare, safety and environment. We highlight potential benefits of an integrated, systematic and ongoing process to assess security of the aquatic food system and to predict impacts of social, economic and environmental change on food supply and demand

Horses and donkeys: Code of welfare

Purpose - The purpose of this code is to provide information to the owners and persons in charge of horses and donkeys about the standards they must achieve in order to meet their obligations under the Animal Welfare Act 1999. This code encourages all those responsible for horses and donkeys to adopt the highest standards of husbandry, care and handling, and to equal or exceed the minimum standards. Adequately maintaining the welfare of horses and donkeys requires experience, training and the observance of high standards. Background - The Animal Welfare Act 1999 provides for the welfare of animals in New Zealand. It puts obligations on people who own or are in charge of animals to provide for the welfare of their animals. The Act establishes the fundamental obligations relating to the care of animals and provides for the development and issue of codes of welfare. Codes of welfare expand on the basic obligations of the Act by setting minimum standards and recommending best practice for the care and management of animals. Who should read this Code of Welfare? - This code is intended for all persons responsible for the welfare of horses and donkeys. Under the Act the “owner” and every “person in charge” of an animal are responsible for meeting the legal obligations for the welfare of animals under their care. For some horses and donkeys, the owner of the animals places them in the care of others who become the persons in charge, but this does not derogate from their responsibility to ensure that the requirements of the Act are met. Why is this important? - Failure to meet a minimum standard in this code may be used as evidence to support a prosecution for an offence under the Act. A person who is charged with an offence against the Act can defend him or herself by showing that he or she has equalled or exceeded the minimum standards in this code. This code includes information and example indicators for each minimum standard. The list of indicators is not exhaustive but is given to provide guidance on ways in which a minimum standard may be met. The recommendations for best practice in this code have no legal basis and are included to encourage higher standards of animal welfar

The changing role of veterinary expertise in the food chain

This paper analyses how the changing governance of animal health has impacted upon veterinary expertise and its role in providing public health benefits. It argues that the social sciences can play an important role in understanding the nature of these changes, but also that their ideas and methods are, in part, responsible for them. The paper begins by examining how veterinary expertise came to be crucial to the regulation of the food chain in the twentieth century. The relationship between the veterinary profession and the state proved mutually beneficial, allowing the state to address the problems of animal health, and the veterinary profession to become identified as central to public health and food supply. However, this relationship has been gradually eroded by the application of neoliberal management techniques to the governance of animal health. This paper traces the impact of these techniques that have caused widespread unease within and beyond the veterinary profession about the consequences for its role in maintaining the public good of animal health. In conclusion, this paper suggests that the development of the social sciences in relation to animal health could contribute more helpfully to further changes in veterinary expertise