Prawns and shrimp are farmed in enormous numbers worldwide, but welfare consideration is minimal. Emerging evidence of crustacean sentience challenges the assumption that these animals cannot suffer.
Prawn and shrimp welfare represents a massive-scale ethical blind spot. If prawns have even a limited capacity for suffering — and the scientific evidence suggests they likely do — the billions farmed annually without any welfare consideration represents an extraordinary scale of potential harm. Farming conditions typically involve high stocking densities, poor water quality, and disease outbreaks treated with blanket antibiotic or chemical use. Slaughter by ice immersion or boiling likely causes distress and pain in sentient animals. The sheer number of individuals means even modest improvements in slaughter method or stocking density would affect welfare at an enormous scale. The Shrimp Welfare Project and similar organisations are working to develop and promote feasible welfare improvements for this largely ignored sector.