This month, we are excited to celebrate a major milestone: In 2024, we improved the lives of over an estimated one million fishes via our farm program, the Alliance for Responsible Aquaculture (ARA). Since the program’s launch in 2021, we estimate the ARA has now helped more than 2.7 million fishes.
In this post, we share the story of one significant challenge faced this year and how we turned it into an opportunity to improve the lives of over 400,000 fishes in just one week. You can learn more about our general process of helping fishes in this recent post.
The Ammonia Challenge: Rapid Response Required
On November 27, 2024, we visited the farm of Alluri Ashok Raju, an ARA farmer, for a routine water quality check. The test results were alarming—ammonia in the water had reached dangerously high levels (0.97mg/L), and so we immediately informed the farmer about the corrective actions that he should take.
As the week continued, water quality tests at nearby farms revealed similarly elevated ammonia levels. The scale and frequency of these readings were concerning. Ammonia, a toxic compound, can harm fish gills, impair breathing, weaken immunity, and, in severe cases, lead to mortality. Once ammonia levels rise, it takes considerable time to dissipate naturally, leaving fish vulnerable to prolonged suffering.
These unusually frequent and localized ammonia issues prompted us to investigate whether there could be a root cause to this issue. After days of fieldwork—surveying farm environments, speaking with local technicians, and analyzing water sources—we identified the issue: Monsoon rains had introduced high ammonia levels into the water supply used for routine water exchanges on these farms. Unaware of this, farmers had inadvertently exposed the fishes they farm to unbearably high ammonia levels.
Preventing Fish Suffering from Ammonia
Once we confirmed the source of the problem, we informed the relevant farmers and their neighbors, advising them to test and, where needed, treat the water before use. Specifically, we advised different farmers various combinations of the following corrective actions: Pausing supplemental feeding for a day, adding zeolite, and adding probiotics.
These corrective actions likely prevented further suffering and, importantly for the farmers, any mortalities. In addition, the incident underscored the importance of continuous water quality monitoring—a cornerstone of our ARA program.
The total amount of fishes we estimate to have helped in these instances surpassed 400,000. In line with our value of transparency, we publish all instances where we believe we improved the lives of fishes in our Total Impact sheet, linked publicly on our Impact Page.
What amount of suffering, and for what duration, was prevented here? It's difficult to say exactly, as we still lack a sufficiently solid research base to understand what it's like to be these animals, and be living in conditions so far beyond what they evolved to experience. We do expect that we would have begun seeing fishes dying shortly, and the path to that likely involves significant suffering, especially for the fishes who die but even for the ones who do not. We do hope and intend to be able to quantify the magnitude of the suffering we avert in the future.
The Challenge of Water Quality Improvements
The ammonia instances here are vivid reminders of the complexities of fish farming ecosystems. Maintaining optimal water quality is an ongoing process, and we contribute by offering regular, free water quality monitoring.
The ARA currently relies on field visits to conduct these measurements but we are working on innovative solutions to require fewer in-field visits, such as remote-sensing water quality (see our recent Innovation Challenge launch).
We look forward to improving the lives of many more fishes with this and other programs.
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