Shrimp are among the most numerous farmed animals on Earth. Growing evidence of crustacean sentience makes shrimp welfare an urgent, high-scale welfare priority.
Farmed shrimp represent one of the largest welfare blind spots in global food production. If shrimp are sentient — and the evidence is increasingly compelling — then the scale of suffering in industrial shrimp production is enormous. Eyestalk ablation without anaesthesia is routine in breeding facilities; high-density crowding causes chronic stress and disease; and slaughter by ice or live processing causes prolonged death. The Shrimp Welfare Project is the leading organisation working to close this gap, engaging producers, retailers, and policymakers on evidence-based welfare improvements. Given the sheer numbers involved, even marginal per-animal improvements would constitute massive reductions in aggregate suffering.