Shrimp are among the most numerous farmed animals globally. Growing evidence of their sentience demands consideration of welfare in one of the world's largest aquaculture industries.
Farmed shrimp welfare is at an early but critical stage of development. The sheer number of animals involved — potentially hundreds of billions of individuals across global production — means that even modest welfare improvements at scale could reduce enormous amounts of potential suffering. Evidence that shrimp are sentient — capable of experiencing stress and possibly pain — has been building through research demonstrating conditioned learning, wound-directed grooming, and physiological stress responses. Current industry practices including eyestalk ablation, extreme crowding, and boiling or freezing without prior stunning likely cause significant suffering. Industry incentives for welfare improvement are currently limited, making consumer pressure and regulatory development particularly important.