Disease outbreaks are the leading cause of economic loss and mass animal suffering in farmed shrimp production, with billions of shrimp dying from preventable conditions annually.
Shrimp disease welfare is catastrophic in scale and intensity. A single WSSV outbreak can kill an entire pond of millions of shrimp within days — the dying process likely involves significant distress if shrimp are sentient. EMS causes necrosis of the hepatopancreas — whether this causes something like pain is uncertain but not impossible given evidence of shrimp sentience. The scale of disease-related mortality in shrimp farming is staggering: billions of animals potentially dying in distress across thousands of farm ponds annually. Preventive approaches that reduce disease through better biosecurity, lower stocking density, and genetic improvement serve both economic and welfare interests. Treating disease welfare as seriously as productivity loss would drive significant industry improvement.