This is the executive summary of a report, published on 15 May 2026 by AWASH. 

You can find the full report here: link

Executive summary

AWASH has completed two phases of research on fish welfare in Ghanaian aquaculture: a desk-based literature review titled Aquaculture and Fish Welfare in Ghana, and an on-site scoping study that included visits to eight large commercial cage farms on Lake Volta, along with stakeholder interviews with farmers, hatcheries, veterinarians, researchers, and regulators. Ghana's tilapia sector produces approximately 200 million fish per year and is concentrated among a small number of large commercial cage farms, which creates the potential for scalable interventions. This report compares candidate interventions to determine which are likely to be most impactful and cost-effective in this context.

This report is intended to:

• Help funders understand the opportunity of fish welfare, particularly in rapidly growing aquaculture systems in Africa, where we believe there is significant potential for impact.
• Highlight open research gaps, enabling researchers to identify priority areas for further investigation, including uncertainties, behavioural constraints, and policy design questions.
• Support practitioners by outlining practical interventions and implementation considerations that may be transferable to other contexts.
• Make our reasoning transparent, inviting critique from technical experts and the broader animal welfare community, so that our strategies can be refined and improved over time.

Interventions evaluated

Five intervention areas were assessed in priority order:

Egg disinfection

High potential — selected as pilot intervention

Juvenile survival rates of 40–55% were observed to be substantially lower than grow-out survival across farms. Egg disinfection using iodophor or potassium permanganate can reduce microbial load under controlled conditions, and existing use on some Ghanaian farms indicates the practice is feasible to adopt. Evidence on whether microbial reductions translate reliably into improved survival under farm conditions is limited, which the pilot aims to address. Formalin, though reported as effective in some studies, is banned for food-related use in Ghana and is excluded.

Aeration to increase dissolved oxygen (DO)

High potential — not selected for pilot at this stage; further research recommended 

Low DO directly impairs fish physiology and increases disease susceptibility. Aeration technology is already familiar to some farmers through use in broodstock and nursery systems. However, systematic DO monitoring, especially during early morning and overnight hours, when depletion is most likely, has not been conducted at grow-out cages, making it difficult to establish the scale of the problem or the likely benefit of intervention.

Improving feed quality

High potential — not selected for pilot at this stage; further research recommended 

Feed accounts for 60–70% of production costs, and the concentration of the supply market (one brand dominates across almost all farms visited) means that supplier-level changes could have sector-wide reach. However, the nutritional composition of commercially available feed in Ghana is unknown, the split between extruded and pelleted feed across farms is unclear, and it is uncertain whether current formulations pose a welfare problem beyond what FCR data can indicate. This area is retained for future work.

Diagnostic and laboratory capacity

Foundational — not selected for pilot at this stage; further research recommended

Weak diagnostic infrastructure contributes to misattribution of mortality, undermines farmer confidence in interventions, and limits the quality of evidence that any pilot can generate. Strengthening this capacity is unlikely to produce measurable welfare improvements on its own, but would improve decision-making across the sector and was highlighted as a priority in the literature. Deeper engagement with relevant institutions is needed before a specific intervention can be designed.

Broodstock health and welfare

Moderate potential

Broodstock condition affects egg quality, fry resilience, and disease resistance. Three intervention routes were considered: improved nutrition, broodstock vaccination, and water quality management.

• Nutritional benefits appear largely limited to the yolk-dependent early larval stage, before fish are likely to experience meaningful suffering.
• Vaccination has a stronger evidence base under controlled conditions, but the protective effect fades by 40 days post-hatch, around the point of peak mortality, limiting its likely impact. Low farmer trust in vaccination following the 2019 ISKNV programme is an additional constraint.
• Water quality management in broodstock pond systems is more tractable than in grow-out cage systems, and represents the most feasible near-term option within this category, though the evidence linking broodstock water quality to downstream offspring outcomes remains indirect.

Disregarded interventions

Three interventions were considered low likelihood of impact:

• Reducing grow-out stocking density - densities were already within acceptable welfare ranges at large farms),
• Pre-slaughter stunning - significant operational change required with limited short-term tractability), and
• Broad biosecurity interventions - infrastructure was often present but inconsistently used, suggesting adherence rather than infrastructure is the constraint, and interventions here are unlikely to achieve consistent impact without stronger incentives or enforcement mechanisms.

Cost-effectiveness analysis

A cost-effectiveness analysis compared egg disinfection and DO aeration across realistic, pessimistic, and optimistic scenarios. Both interventions appear cost-effective under the assumptions used. Estimated costs per life impacted were:

• Egg disinfection: Realistic estimate of $0.037 - $0.008 (optimistic) and $0.270 (pessimistic)
• DO aeration: Realistic estimate of $0.042 - $0.011 (optimistic) to $0.295 (pessimistic)

Results based on cost per life year improved favoured egg disinfection. Given higher uncertainty in estimating life years impacted for fish, cost per life impacted is treated as the primary decision metric. On this basis, egg disinfection is consistently more cost-effective and also carries lower upfront costs, improving the likelihood of farmer adoption.

Selected intervention

Egg disinfection is selected as the priority pilot intervention. The pilot will test iodophor and potassium permanganate at the Aquaculture Research and Development Centre (ARDEC) and one commercial farm over an initial three-month period, with outcomes assessed against control batches. Expansion criteria will require clear and consistent evidence of improvements in hatchability and early-stage survival.

Disclaimer: I used an LLM to help draft/edit this report, but I’ve reviewed and edited it myself before posting.