Aquatic species make up the vast majority of animals used by humans in the food system, with trillions slaughtered every year. Yet their welfare remains largely overlooked in industry standards, policy discussions, and even within animal advocacy itself. The scale of this challenge is immense, and no single organization can tackle it alone: real progress requires collaboration that crosses borders, disciplines, and perspectives. This understanding led Aquatic Life Institute to establish the Aquatic Animal Alliance (AAA), a coalition that now brings together more than 180 organizations across 75 countries. Combining scientific expertise, regional knowledge, and coordinated action, the Alliance works to close the gap between advocacy and tangible improvements in the lives of aquatic animals.

In my experience as the Director of the AAA for over four years, I have learned that coalition work is not just “nice to have,” or optional. Given the scale, complexity, and transnational nature of the industries we aim to transform, if we want to be impactful, we have to go beyond symbolic alignment; we must embed strategy, trust, and mutual accountability into our coalition values and objectives.

Aquaculture and fisheries supply chains are a maze of commercial agreements, markets, certifications, and policy frameworks. No single actor, however capable, can shift these systems on their own. Coordinated approaches, scientific credibility, and legitimacy conferred by a broad movement are prerequisites for structural change.

The first half of 2025 offered very hopeful examples of the impact of coalitions, as illustrated by the AAA’s collaborative work. In New Zealand, 168 AAA members joined a coordinated letter urging the government to divest from octopus farming research. The coalition’s unified voice prompted the Fisheries Minister to respond publicly, putting the issue at the forefront of public discussion.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, we convened local and international NGOs — Aquatic Life Institute, Fundación Veg, Mercy For Animals, Plant Based Treaty, Te Protejo, and AnimaNaturalis — to align on a campaign aiming to ban octopus farming in the country. Each contributor offered distinct capacity, including legal lobbying, scientific expertise, grassroots outreach, and policy analysis. Together, the coalition has the capacity to conduct meaningful research, engage with legislators and media, and shape public sentiment in ways that none of us would have managed individually. Recent promising outcomes from this joint strategy include media coverage on one of Mexico’s most prominent TV networks, Milenio, with an average viewership of 17 million. You can read the full report of our week of actions here.

We can see just how crucial sharing responsibility is by way of an example. As we prepared to support the introduction of a bill, two organizations initially took on the leadership. As the process advanced, both faced unexpected capacity constraints, and the campaign began to slow. Another member stepped forward and agreed to take on the lobbying effort, and we adjusted roles accordingly. We approached this shift with care, because changes in leadership can easily create tension if they’re not communicated clearly. We framed the effort as a coordinated campaign in which responsibilities move according to capacity, and where all contributing organizations remain central to the work. This approach kept the campaign on track and preserved trust. What made the transition smooth was the alignment among the groups and their willingness to communicate openly about limitations, share responsibility, and hold a common goal above individual agendas.

We invite you to review the AAA half-year report, where we highlight all joint coalition activities in the first half of 2025, and feature some of our impressive member organizations and the work they are courageously leading in their countries.

What We Can Learn From Other Social Justice Movements

Through the above examples and beyond, we have found that one of the most important aspects of creating impactful coalition work is how organizations manage tensions. When shared purpose becomes the norm, fragile alliances can transform into durable joint advocacy. This pattern in coalition work is well documented in broader social movement literature.

In a comprehensive review of coalition formation, persistence, and success across movements, researchers found that emergent factors such as commitment, trust, and communication infrastructure often determined whether a coalition would endure or collapse. Their framework highlighted that social ties, organizational structure, shared culture, and resource interdependence were essential for coalition survival. Another study further strengthened those findings by analyzing how diverse coalitions succeed or fail. They found that movements that tolerate difference, build relational equity, and structure decision processes transparently outperform those that suppress internal diversity.

Examples from other struggles help to underline these points: in the fight against smoking, public policies advanced more rapidly when medical associations, nonprofits, and legal advocates coordinated resources, leveraged litigation, and presented coherent unified messaging rather than acting in silos; meanwhile, in the U.S. marriage equality movement, local and national LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, legal teams, and external allies combined their strengths to shift public opinion and legal precedent in a far shorter timeframe than if they had acted separately; and in another instance, a diverse coalition comprising civil society groups, Indigenous peoples, social movements, and local communities successfully advocated for the UN General Assembly to recognize the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. These historic achievements were only possible through the collective efforts of thousands of individuals and organizations worldwide. In the latter example, the coalition was awarded the 2023 United Nations Human Rights Prize, the first time this honor was granted to a global coalition.

The State Of Aquatic Animal Welfare Advocacy And Collaboration

Through the AAA, we aim to build an internal infrastructure that echoes learning from other social justice movements and enables real collaboration and trust. Last year, we launched a resource hub that gathers science-based reports, campaign materials, and valuable documents from across the membership. These materials reduce duplication and level the playing field for smaller groups, many of which would otherwise lack the capacity to develop them independently. We also created an Aquatic Animal Alliance blog to highlight the remarkable work being done collectively by the coalition, as well as by individual member organizations around the world. These are essential to strengthen our coalition’s resilience, to create connection and belonging within the group, and to encourage further participation and engagement.

Aquatic animals could arguably benefit the most from collaborative advocacy, as outcomes are far more important than credit. In practice, this means truly listening to local leaders, elevating locally led initiatives, and crafting communications that highlight the coalition while also acknowledging the contributions of individual organizations. For example, public credit should be given accurately to groups that supported, led, or participated in actions, provided there are no confidentiality concerns. It is particularly important for organizations in the Global North to ensure that the work of smaller, often underfunded organizations in the Global South is prominently recognized, as these groups face greater barriers to accessing resources that are largely controlled by Global North donors. In the nonprofit sector, visibility frequently drives funding and influence, which can often create competition rather than cooperation. Despite the scale of the industry, in 2024, only 11% of the farmed animal protection movement funding went toward aquatic animals, making this point even more salient.

Along the same lines, it is important to reconsider how power and strategy implementation flows across regions. Too often, advocacy frameworks developed in the Global North are projected onto the Global South, leaving little room for local adaptation or leadership that work best in their own cultural, political, and economic realities. We have found that engaging with local organizations to understand their context and needs, then working together to develop strategies that reflect those realities, has been very impactful. In such cases, knowledge flows in both directions and global coordination strengthens local action rather than replacing it.

We have also found that humility is essential in this process, and establishing trust builds a strong foundation. Genuine collaboration requires acknowledging imbalances, opening space for others’ leadership, and designing conflict-resolution mechanisms before tensions arise. Scholars exploring the intersection of coalitions and contentious action argue that trust networks and coalition integration are essential for collective durability and effectiveness.

Our experience supports these observations. As trust strengthens, organizations share information openly, respond quickly to opportunities, and adapt effectively to changing circumstances. Conversely, when trust and transparency are limited, collaboration can be less efficient, efforts may overlap rather than build on each other, and misunderstandings or miscommunications can arise. Addressing these challenges proactively allows us to stay focused on our shared goal: improving outcomes for the animals.

One recent example illustrates why shared responsibility is essential for coalition work. We had been preparing to support the introduction of a bill, and two member organizations initially committed to leading the effort. As the process advanced, both groups faced unexpected capacity limitations, and the timelines continued to slip. Rather than allowing the campaign to stall, another member stepped forward and agreed to take on the coordination role. We approached this shift carefully to avoid the perception that anyone was being replaced or overshadowed. By framing the effort as a joint campaign where all involved organizations continue to contribute and where leadership can shift when needed, we reduced the potential for conflict. This experience reinforced a lesson that applies across the Alliance: progress is more sustainable when leadership is flexible, shared, and grounded in collective purpose rather than individual ownership.

While many of us have observed the success of impactful coalitions, I have found that there is a lack of research, information, and data on the impact of coalitions in the animal protection movement in particular. For example, the global cage-free campaign, which albeit has run into accountability and enforcement issues when the 2025 deadline arrived, demonstrated how global, concerted, and aligned efforts toward a clear goal can lead to significant changes for animals. However, when these victories are analyzed, they are framed solely as corporate victories, as is the corresponding impact in the number of animals.

Importantly, the intentional collaboration, which creates and maintains frameworks and opportunities for organizations around the world, is overlooked or not often mentioned. I believe it would be truly powerful to have more focused research on coalition impact from research and meta organizations to explore themes of success and obstacles like those mentioned in this article, which could in turn help to increase the impact and visibility of collaborative work in the future. This data could also support the case for coalitions with donors and funders, illustrating that funding movement and capacity-building efforts are a crucial intervention for our work for animals globally.

The Path Forward

Through our work, the Aquatic Animal Alliance is able to showcase that finding creative ways to gather and share data, engage organizations globally, and work together gives coalitions a unique advantage: it allows us to be nimble, flexible, and able to act quickly when opportunities arise, which are rare in our line of work. Time is often critical, and having a trusted coalition means we can mobilize immediately around shared objectives.

This year alone, we have leveraged this capacity to influence key stakeholders, from submitting feedback on the U.K. Marine Act to support a ban on bottom trawling, to providing comments to the Nepalese government, led by local organization Nepal Animal Welfare Environment Society, which will ensure aquatic animals are included in their upcoming live animal transport legislation. Each of these actions was backed by over 160 organizations, sending a powerful signal of global alignment on priorities for aquatic animal protection. We will continue harnessing opportunities for aquatic animals and supporting our members in their meaningful work around the world.

A coalition ready to act amplifies impact, ensures our arguments for animals are heard at the right moment, and makes meaningful change possible. We believe this model can be used for many other campaigns of the animal protection movement.

As a veterinarian, I see suffering in clinical terms: cephalopods restrained in tanks, crustaceans boiled alive, fishes subject to chronic stress. As a coalition leader, I see a different kind of suffering: wasted opportunities and fragmentation when groups compete, duplicate, fracture, or discount other organizations’ efforts. Both forms are preventable, but only through an intentional effort to collaborate differently.

Coalition work requires patience, critical reflection, and a systems-based approach. When collaboration is grounded in trust, transparency, and equity, aquatic animal advocacy strengthens its legitimacy, resilience, and capacity for large-scale impact. The welfare of trillions of aquatic animals depends on achieving this collective effectiveness.