High stocking densities in shrimp farming cause welfare harms through increased aggression, disease pressure, and physiological stress, with reforms offering welfare and production benefits.
Shrimp at high stocking densities experience elevated ammonia and CO2, reduced dissolved oxygen, increased cannibalism, and immune suppression. Whether shrimp experience subjective suffering remains debated, but their physiological stress responses are measurable and indicate welfare compromise. Lower stocking density combined with good water management reduces disease, improves growth, and produces welfare and productivity co-benefits. Certification schemes are beginning to set maximum stocking density limits.