Longer description of your proposed project

Future for Fish is the fish welfare program of Farmed Animals Protection Association (Çiftlik Hayvanlarını Koruma Derneği - ÇHKD). Future for Fish (FFF) conducts research on the conditions of farmed fish, engages with producers, and secures welfare commitments in Türkiye.

ÇHKD is the only NGO in Türkiye, working on getting cage-free and fish welfare corporate commitments. The organization has also another program: Kafessiz Türkiye (Türkiye without Cages) reaches out to companies with cage eggs in their supply chain and secures cage-free commitments through negotiation or targeted campaigns. ÇHKD is an ACE Recommended Charity since 2022 and is one of the most cost effective organizations working for farmed animals’ welfare in the world. In this application, we are requesting funds for our fish welfare program.

Türkiye is one of the largest aquaculture producers in the world and one of the leading farmed fish exporters to Europe. According to Open Philantrophy's estimations, there are more than 680 million farmed fish "alive at one point in time" in Türkiye .https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12pA0UxIbRDcfY5g25XZ7na4duhj6411l-1-_3tRH48k/edit#gid=1419062790

A significant portion of this production occurs in large scale fish farms. Unfortunately, a lot of farms are not committed to certifications that set standards which directly or indirectly improve fish welfare. Most farms also do not use modern stunning equipment which results in millions of fish dying from asphyxiation that can last more than half an hour.

Fortunately, welfare reforms such as committing to work with certifiers and using electrical stunning machinery, are very cheap, especially for large scale fisheries. Therefore, there is a potential for extremely high cost effectiveness: Each large scale producer or retailer can impact 5-50 million fish each year. Our budget for our fish welfare department has been and will remain in the short term, less than 100.000$. It is possible that work on fish welfare can help approximately 100 fish per 1 dollar spent.

Our project aims to improve fish welfare via producer and retailer outreach. We aim to achieve this by building constructive dialogue with them (not through pressure campaigns). In November 2023, we held a launch event for the program. Our launch event gathered many other producers and stakeholders, including the director general of fishing and aquaculture from the ministry of agriculture and forestry. We also presented our fish welfare report during the launch event, which covers 70% to 80% total farmed fish production output in Türkiye.

After research and initial engagement stages between 2022-2023, we are planning to systematically reach out to major producers and retailers to secure fish welfare commitments in 2024. Until now, we have achieved one commitment from Metro Türkiye - Turkish branch of Metro Cash & Carry -, and one commitment from Abalıoğlu Fish - a large fish farm. Both of them committed to have certifications like Good Agriculture Practice (Global G.A.P.), Friend of the Sea (FOS), Aquaculture Stewardship Council, and using electric stunners to improve fish welfare. We estimate that Metro Türkiye commitment will impact about 9 million fish per year, and Abalıoğlu Fish will impact 30 million fish - we base our estimations from the fish number data provided from these retailers and producers. We are optimistic that we can reach and convince more brands in the future.

There are other charities too that focus on aquatic animals welfare, such as Aquatic Animal Alliance, Fish Welfare Initiative and Shrimp Welfare Project. However, our organization's approach offers a subtle difference. Firstly, we engage with large-scale, modern fish farms and major retailers within a middle-income country. We also aim to set standards for welfare during harvest (stunning). Secondly, we are aiming to impact the aquaculture industry in Türkiye, which is an important hub for European fish market: 75% farmed fish produced in Türkiye is exported, mainly to the EU countries. Finally, we are aiming to achieve our goals for fish welfare via constructive dialogue, not campaigns.

Describe why you think you're qualified to work on this

So far, the progress of Future for Fish program can be summarized as follows:

- Secured welfare commitment from Metro Türkiye in 2021. Impacted fish estimated to be 9 million: https://www.metro-tr.com/hakkimizda/surdurulebilirlik/sorumlu-satin-alma/hayvan-refahi

- Secured welfare commitment from Abalıoğlu Fish in 2023. Impacted fish estimated to be 30 million: https://abalifish.com/future-for-fish-balik-refahi-taahhudu/

- Conducted field research and survey, and published the most comprehensive report on farmed fish production in Türkiye in 2023: https://futureforfish.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ENG-FISH-WELFARE-REPORT-TURKIYE-REVIEW.pdf

FFF has been supported by Open Philanthropy, Animal Charity Evaluators, Centre for Effective Altruism, and Humane America Animal Foundation. The program is also a member of the Aquatic Animal Alliance.

FFF is part of ÇHKD, which was established in 2020 after successful initiatives of its cage-free program, called Kafessiz Türkiye. Kafessiz Türkiye started by voluntary efforts in 2018, as a two people team, and focused mainly on getting cage-free commitments from brands. In 2020, we transitioned into a formal association: Farmed Animals Protection Association (ÇHKD). Now, we are operating with 13 staff and we have improved the welfare of more than 1.5 million hens kept in battery cages and more than 39 million farmed fish. Our fish welfare team has 3 members (2 employees and 1 academic contractor who is a professor on aquaculture).

Our organisation is heavily influenced by effective altruism and most of our staff members, especially those who hold leadership positions are involved in the effective altruism community since 2016: our founders were fundraising and earning to give for Against Malaria Foundation before they focused on animal welfare reforms.

We are the only organization in the region that works on farmed animal welfare. In cage-free program, we have a track record of securing cage-free commitments across more than 70 brands. We also ensure corporations that have global commitments are accountable and they also realize their commitments in Türkiye.

Other ways I can learn about you

Our fish welfare program’s website:

www.futureforfish.org

Our main website is the cage-free campaign website for Kafessiz Türkiye:

www.kafessizturkiye.com

Our legal entity is Farmed Animals Protection Association:

https://ciftlikhayvanlarinikorumadernegi.org/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kafessizturkiye

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kafessiz-turkiye/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kafessizturkiye

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kafessizturkiye

Open Philanthropy: https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/ciftlik-hayvanlarini-koruma-dernegi-farm-animal-welfare-in-Türkiye/

Animal Charity Evaluators review: https://animalcharityevaluators.org/charity-review/ciftlik-hayvanlarini-koruma-dernegi/

We have a high transparency standard. We are listed in the NGO transparency platform in Türkiye, called Açık Açık, because we publish annual reports, our financials, staff list, and board members are open to public, and we have independent audit reports:

https://acikacik.org/stk/sivil-toplum-kurulusu/chkd

How much money do you need?

We request 15,000 USD for general support to our fish welfare program, Future for Fish. FFF’s budget is currently covered by other grants; however, there is still room for funding. This amount would allow us to protect staff salaries against inflation rates, to cover extra expenses for producer engagement (such as travels to fish farms and attending to industry events), and save reserves as a buffer for contingency costs. Currently, we are very low on reserves. We are also open to a token grant of 1,000 USD. Since our work is supported by Open Philanthropy and other major donors, we are not under severe financial limitations (even though we are low on reserves). However, we are struggling to expand our individual donor base. Türkiye is a middle-income country where the population generally has limited disposable income and most donors prefer cause areas other than farmed animal welfare (mainly education and poverty alleviation). Depending almost entirely on major donors creates fragility. We would be in a much stable position if we also had a decent amount of individuals as well who could at least cover %20 our budget. This is now less than %5. We would be grateful if you mention us in your grant list so that international individual donors can consider us for their charitable giving options. We believe many individual donors would be interested in our work, as we may be among the most cost-effective animal charities, yet many may not be aware of us due to our operations being based in Türkiye. It would also be good to show the scale of fish suffering and the incredible cost effectiveness potential of fish welfare reforms to your audience. We are also hosting (optional) quarterly meetings with our donors to provide them information about our work and receive feedback.

Links to any supporting documents or information

No response.

Estimate your probability of succeeding if you get the amount of money you asked for

The amount we’ve requested is for general support; therefore, the funding will support the stability of the program throughout 2024. Our goal for 2024 is to get an additional welfare commitment from a fish farm. The commitment includes stock density, electrical stunning and implementing at least one international certificates (Global GAP, FOS, or ASC). We project the likelihood of one additional fish farm influenced to commit to higher standards is 10%. In 2024, we aim to impact 5,000,000 fish (likelihood: 20%) or 1,000,000 fish (likelihood: 50%)