# Assessing Perceptions Toward Aquatic Animal Welfare: A Study on the Perspectives of Educators, Students and Aquaculture Industry Stakeholders in South and South-Central Vietnam

## TL;DR

This study explores how educators, students, and aquaculture professionals in Vietnam perceive aquatic animal welfare, finding a lack of practical understanding despite general awareness.

## Contribution

The study introduces the Awareness Depth Gap Framework and provides the first empirical insights into AAW perceptions in Vietnam's education and aquaculture sectors.

## Key findings

- Only 5.57% of students identified most of the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare, highlighting a significant knowledge gap.
- A small but significant negative correlation was found between AAW curricular inclusion and stronger welfare attitudes.
- Educators and students were willing to pay 6–10% more for higher-welfare products, while stakeholders prioritized profit.

## Abstract

Vietnam’s aquaculture sector faces a major skills and knowledge gap. Many tertiary institutions still use outdated curricula and have limited resources, leaving graduates poorly equipped to apply aquatic animal welfare (AAW) in practice. Because of weak enforcement, low penalties, and a lack of species-specific guidelines, welfare standards are seldom implemented. Simultaneously, poor handling, overcrowding, and transport conditions persist on farms. Financial and cultural priorities often outweigh welfare concerns, so improving AAW requires education that links animal welfare to income, food security, and livelihoods. This study surveyed educators, students, and aquaculture professionals in South and South-Central Vietnam to assess their knowledge and attitudes toward AAW. Although most respondents showed concern for animal welfare, only about 6% of students could identify key welfare principles, and 17% showed no understanding at all. Educators and students were willing to pay 6–10% more for higher-welfare products, whereas aquaculture sector stakeholders prioritised profit. These findings reveal broad theoretical support but limited practical understanding. Structured AAW training, including community benefits, is essential to strengthen education, policy, and practice toward global welfare standards.

This study investigated the perceptions of AAW among educators (n = 47), students (n = 359), and aquaculture sector stakeholders (n = 34) in key aquaculture regions of South and South-Central Vietnam. Using a mixed-methods survey, perception scores, understanding of core welfare concepts, curricular coverage, and willingness to pay (WTP) for higher-welfare products were assessed. Although perception scores were high across surveyed groups, only 5.57% of students identified most of the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare, while 17.0% showed no understanding of welfare. This highlighted a gap between awareness and understanding, leading to the development of the Awareness Depth Gap Framework. A small but statistically significant negative correlation (Kendall–Theil –Sen slope = −0.28, p < 1.25 × 10−12) indicated that greater AAW curricular inclusion was associated with stronger welfare attitudes. Willingness to pay modest premiums (6–10%) for higher-welfare products increased non-linearly with higher perception scores among educators and students. In contrast, aquaculture sector stakeholders appeared to prioritise economic factors over welfare. These results highlight the need for structured AAW curricula and community collaborative education to close knowledge gaps. This study provides the first empirical insights into AAW perceptions across the education and aquaculture sectors in Vietnam.