Prawns are farmed in enormous numbers globally. The combination of scale, uncertain sentience, and poor welfare standards makes this one of the most important areas for welfare improvement.
Farmed prawn welfare encompasses the entire production cycle. Eyestalk ablation — removing one eye to induce moulting and accelerate reproductive maturity in broodstock females — is a painful and widely criticised practice with no anaesthesia. Juveniles and adults are crowded at high densities that suppress immune function and cause chronic stress. Disease outbreaks cause mass mortality — billions of animals dying from infection in ways that may involve suffering. Slaughter typically involves no stunning — prawns are live-boiled, live-frozen, or mechanically processed. The combination of scale, probable sentience, and widespread poor practice makes prawn farming one of the highest-priority areas for welfare reform. The Shrimp Welfare Project focuses specifically on this sector, working to improve conditions from hatchery to slaughter.