Shrimp are among the most farmed aquatic animals globally, yet their welfare has received far less attention than finfish. Evidence for their sentience and capacity to suffer is growing.
Shrimp welfare has historically been dismissed on the grounds that crustaceans lack sufficient neural complexity to experience pain. The scientific consensus has shifted: evidence for nociception, stress responses, and avoidance learning in decapod crustaceans is now strong enough that the UK included them in the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022. In intensive shrimp farming, welfare concerns are pervasive: extreme stocking densities, poor water quality, ammonia accumulation, and high disease burdens create chronic stress. Eyestalk ablation — removing a crustacean's eyestalk to trigger gonad maturation and spawning — is painful and causes lasting impairment. The Shrimp Welfare Project and researchers at Rethink Priorities have mapped key welfare intervention points across the shrimp supply chain.