Shrimp are the world's most internationally traded seafood, and growing evidence of their capacity for pain makes their welfare an urgent ethical issue.
Farmed shrimp welfare is one of aquaculture's most pressing emerging ethical concerns. Eyestalk ablation — cutting or crushing the eyestalk containing neuroendocrine tissue to accelerate spawning — is performed on millions of broodstock shrimp annually without anesthesia, causing acute pain in animals now recognized as likely sentient. High-density farming in earthen ponds causes water quality deterioration, disease outbreaks, and chronic stress indicated by elevated stress hormones. Ice slurry killing causes a slow, potentially painful death over several minutes. The scale of shrimp production — billions of animals — means even small per-animal improvements in welfare would benefit an enormous number of sentient creatures. The Shrimp Welfare Project is pioneering research and industry engagement to address these concerns.