Inside Egypt’s Booming Fish Industry
Egypt is the third-largest producer of farmed tilapia on Earth. Nile tilapia now make up the bulk of the country’s aquaculture industry — a system that’s churning out over a million tonnes of fish a year. But ask what the animals themselves are experiencing, and the answers are disturbingly unclear. There are no mandatory welfare standards. No national protections. No industry safeguards. Just millions of sentient individuals bred into existence, crammed into murky ponds, and harvested like crops.
A new study set out to dig deeper.
Aquaculture Without Accountability
This was the largest welfare-focused survey ever conducted with Egyptian tilapia farmers. Over 100 participants — all men, mostly with 15+ years in the industry — gave insight into their farming methods, knowledge gaps, and what stops them from doing better.
Just 11% had ever received training on fish welfare. That figure alone tells you everything.
Most had been trained only through experience on the farm. Only 4% had any formal scientific education. Nearly 90% said they felt confident in their general farming skills — but less than half felt confident about the welfare of the animals in their care.
When training was provided, the difference was measurable: farms where workers had received welfare-specific training saw significantly lower mortality rates and fewer cases of stunted fish growth. In other words, when people are taught how to treat animals less like commodities and more like living beings, fewer of them die.
What Farmers Say — and What They Don’t Do
Farmers ranked water quality and feed as the most important factors for fish welfare. Yet water — arguably the most basic need for an aquatic species — was also the area where farmers felt least able to make improvements. Some said they lacked resources. Others blamed government inaction or high costs.
Handling the animals more gently, reducing stocking density, offering enrichment, or checking for illness? These were all rated as low priority.
The majority of farms did implement some basic measures: filtering pollution, offering feed, and giving fish some room to swim. But this is the bare minimum. None of it addresses the fact that these fishes are commodified from birth — bred to be exploited, confined, and killed.
Even among those who said fish welfare matters, the reasoning was rarely ethical. It was financial. Farmers said improving welfare would boost productivity, quality, and export potential. Not one farmer mentioned the fish themselves. Not one said, “Because they deserve better”
Welfare vs. Reality
Nile tilapia are not vegetables. They’re animals with social structures, environmental needs, and the capacity to suffer. Scientific consensus confirms they experience pain — but that fact has no legal or practical weight in Egypt’s fish farms.
What do these farms look like?
Most use semi-intensive earthen ponds filled with agricultural runoff. Fish densities range from 10,000 to 20,000 per hectare. That’s thousands of individuals swimming in shallow waters, often under poor-quality conditions, left vulnerable to stress, disease, and death.
Despite recognising that "overstocking" is a problem, many farmers said they couldn’t — or wouldn’t — reduce fish numbers. The economic incentive is clear: more animals equals more product. Just like in land-based animal agriculture, the logic of profit trumps any consideration of the animals' lived experience.
Who’s Responsible?
The Egyptian aquaculture industry is rapidly expanding. Farmers know it. Exporters know it. Governments know it. And every stakeholder seems eager to capitalise on this growth — while pretending that the lives being mass-produced and destroyed in the process somehow don’t count.
Training might improve outcomes, but it won’t change the fundamental injustice: turning sentient life into merchandise.
This study paints a picture of fish treated as units in a production system. The few who care enough to improve conditions are doing so not because fish are individuals with needs, but because healthy fish are more profitable. That’s not welfare — that’s maintenance.
The real question isn’t whether tilapia farms can be more “humane.” It’s why this industry exists at all.
Tilapia don’t belong in ponds, packed by the thousand, destined for slaughter. They belong in rivers, lakes, and ecosystems — not in spreadsheets.
Until that principle is understood, training will change outcomes — but never ethics. Fish don’t need better farming — they need freedom.