Black tiger prawns are farmed in extensive and intensive systems across Southeast Asia with welfare challenges including eyestalk ablation, disease, and poor water quality management.
Black tiger prawn welfare is compromised at multiple stages of the production cycle, most severely by the routine use of eyestalk ablation in broodstock. This procedure destroys the sinus gland and optical tissue, causing permanent sensory damage and chronic pain in broodstock animals. Disease outbreaks in intensive ponds cause mass mortality events preceded by behavioural changes indicating distress. Better genetics, biosecurity, and disease management rather than ablation are the welfare-positive paths to improved broodstock productivity.