Shrimp is the world's most traded seafood commodity, produced in conditions that raise significant welfare questions about stocking density, disease management, and slaughter methods.
Shrimp welfare exists in a policy vacuum: their sentience is increasingly supported by evidence but welfare legislation rarely addresses them. Intensive production involves extreme crowding, disease outbreaks requiring chemical treatment, and killing by chilling, crushing, or boiling with no stunning. The sheer numbers involved — hundreds of billions of animals annually — mean that welfare improvements would have enormous aggregate impact. Certification schemes including the Aquaculture Stewardship Council are beginning to address shrimp welfare, but standards remain minimal.