Disease outbreaks are devastating farmed shrimp operations globally. This page examines the welfare dimensions and what better practices look like.
Disease in farmed shrimp causes substantial suffering at enormous scale. Millions of animals may die in a single outbreak from infectious disease, sometimes after prolonged illness. High stocking densities that characterize intensive shrimp farming facilitate rapid pathogen spread. The welfare implications of disease are compounded by difficulty in monitoring and treating shrimp individually, limited knowledge of shrimp pain and stress responses, and industry incentives to push stocking densities to the limit. Improving biosecurity and reducing stocking density are the most impactful welfare interventions available.