Shrimp are farmed in vast numbers with minimal welfare consideration. Growing evidence of crustacean sentience raises important welfare questions for this major industry.
Shrimp welfare represents one of the most significant welfare challenges in terms of numbers of individuals affected. If shrimp are sentient — and the evidence increasingly suggests they merit precautionary treatment as if they are — then the conditions under which billions are farmed and killed annually represent an enormous welfare problem. High density farming, disease outbreaks causing mass mortality, and slaughter by ice immersion all impose potential suffering at massive scale. The Shrimp Welfare Project and similar organisations are developing and advocating for welfare standards that address the most tractable welfare improvements including slaughter method, disease management and density limits.