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The team

The fair-fish database is a project launched and managed by fair-fish, under cooperation with FishEthoGroup.

fair-fish is an NGO aiming at increasing welfare of aquatic animals in captivity and decreasing welfare hazards during catching, applying fair trade with fishermen and -women, and protecting the environment.

FishEthoGroup is a non-profit institution dedicated to research and improving the welfare of aquatic animals. Its role in the fair-fish database is to provide content for the species profiles as well as collaborating in the discussions on the development and structure of the database. 

Jenny Volstorf
sz
Director & Editor-in-chief since 2020, Researcher & Reviewer since 2013

Jenny is part of the team behind the fair-fish database, as of 2020 as the director as well as researcher, reviewer, and editor-in-chief. A studied psychologist (Chemnitz, Germany) and trained at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (Berlin, Germany) in her first life, she joined Billo Studer in setting up the FishEthoBase (now fair-fish database) in 2013. Since then, she has invested her time in creating, reviewing, and editing species profiles.

Her aim is to increase welfare of species in captivity by providing knowledge on needs and natural conditions, also if that means to discover that a species is not suitable for farming. Ideally, the fair-fish database will assist in ending overfishing and reduce the number of farmed species to a minimum for which highest welfare standards may be achieved.

Berlin, Germany English & German
jenny@..
Caroline Marques Maia
Researcher since 2020 and Reviewer since 2022

Caroline is a biologist specialised in animal behaviour and welfare. She did a MSc and a PhD in Zoology at Unesp University (Brazil) by investigating choices, preferences, and motivations of fish species. Part of her PhD was developed at Pennsylvania State University (USA).

In 2016, together with Gilson Volpato, Caroline proposed the Preference Index to evaluate animal preference responses, including fishes, in a more reliable way. She also graduated as a specialist in scientific journalism and mantains a blog about animal behaviour and welfare. Living in Brazil, she works as an independent researcher and is interested in fish preference and motivation to access environmental resources and how to use this to improve the welfare of these animals.

Caroline is part of the team behind the fair-fish database since November 2020, creating, reviewing, and updating fish profiles. She also collaborates with other team members on scientific research and dissemination.

Botucatu (Sao Paulo state), Brazil English
carol@.. https://www.researchgate.net/.. carolmm_luzi Caroline Marques Maia https://www.facebook.com/..
María J. Cabrera-Álvarez
sz
Researcher since 2020 and Reviewer since 2022

María is a biologist with a specialty in fish behaviour and neuroscience. She did a MSc in Animal Behaviour and Neuroscience at Utrecht University (The Netherlands), a PhD in Fish Social Behaviour and Neuroscience at McGill University (Canada), and worked at a Comparative Cognition laboratory at University of Cambridge (UK).

María is interested in the underlying mechanisms of animal cognition and social behaviour and in how we can use this information to improve the life and welfare of farmed fishes. She joined the FishEthoGroup team and the Fish Ethology and Welfare Group at CCMAR in September 2020. She is part of the team behind the fair-fish database, where she is responsible for creating, reviewing, and updating fish profiles. María also collaborates with other team members in behavioural and physiological research on farmed fish species and participates in the organisation of FishEthoGroup events.

Faro, Portugal English, Spanish & Portuguese
maria@.. https://www.researchgate.net/..
Joly Ghanawi
Researcher since 2023

Joly has a BSc and MSc in Biology from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. She also has a PhD in Sustainable Aquaculture from the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, UK. Her PhD focused on interactions between farmed fish and wild fish populations. Joly is very interested in animal welfare.

Sebastian Scholz
Admin/Webmaster since 2016

Sebastian is the web designer, programmer, admin, and hoster of the fair-fish database website.

He studied sociology, applied computer science, and European history in Chemnitz (Germany) and in Växjö (Sweden). As part of the team of the "Fahrradkino Chemnitz" (bicycle cinema), Sebastian tries to show people the value of electric power in an entertaining way. He is also a programmer/developer of driving simulators and a photographer.

As a freelancer, he has been taking care of the fair-fish database and the websites of FishEthoGroup, fair-fish Switzerland & International since 2016.

Chemnitz, Germany English & German
admin@..
Billo Heinzpeter Studer
Founder and former Director (2012-2020)

Born 1947, Billo is a Swiss social psychologist and author.

From 1985 till 2001, he directed the Swiss farm animal welfare organisation kagfreiland.ch. Initiated fair-fish.ch in 1997 and directed its Swiss office till 2012 and its fishery project in Senegal from 2004 till 2010. Founder and former president of fair-fish international (2010-2023). Founder of the FishEthoBase (now fair-fish database) which he directed from 2013 till 2020. Co-founder of the FishEthoGroup. His latest books, published in German in 2020 and in English in 2021, are about the fair-fish story and about fish welfare in aquaculture.

João L. Saraiva
Former Researcher (2016-2022)

João is a fish ethologist with a special interest in welfare. He is currently leading the Fish Ethology and Welfare Group at CCMAR and is the president of the FishEthoGroup Association. With a background on behaviour and communication in teleosts, João now focuses on the application of fundamental science to improve the welfare of farmed fishes. He is the author of many scientific papers and co-editor of a book on welfare of cultured and experimental fishes. Along with his scientific production, João is also part of the team behind the fair-fish database. He is an invited assistant professor of Ethology at the University of Algarve.

João works also as a consultant for the European Commission and other private stakeholders and is part of the team responsible for the CAREFISH project - establishment of fish welfare requirements in the Friend Of the Sea certification scheme.

Pablo Arechavala-Lopez
Former Reviewer (2016-2022)

Pablo is a multidisciplinary ichthyologist, specialised in fish behaviour, ecology, and welfare of farmed and wild marine fishes. He has studied the behaviour of farm-aggregated and escaped fishes and their possible effects on the marine environment with a view to improving the sustainability of aquaculture and fisheries.

Today, as part of FishEthoGroup and researcher at the Mediterranean Institute of Advanced Studies (IMEDEA-CSIC), he is focused on developing diverse strategies to ensure a more sustainable and responsible aquaculture activity by investigating and validating behavioural indicators of fish welfare, developing operational tools to monitor fish welfare at farms, assessing the effects of environmental enrichment on farmed fish species or rising welfare management plans at commercial and global scale, among others. Along with his scientific production, he also participates in fish welfare training, experimentation, and consultancy.

Maria Filipa Castanheira
Former Researcher (2016-2021)

Born in 1978, Bsc in Marine Biology and Biotechnology, MSc in Aquaculture and Fisheries specialised in Aquaculture, PhD in Biological Sciences specialised in Marine Biology. Lives in Vienna, Austria and is interested in farmed fish welfare particularly studying how to ensure good welfare practises in aquaculture industry, by setting up Codes of Practice for responsible aquaculture that take fish welfare into account and improves the industry sustainability.

Ana Roque
Former Researcher (2014-2015)

No information available.

Tanya Slosberg
Former Researcher (2015-2016)

No information available.

Kerstin Glaus
Former Reviewer (2015-2018)

No information available.