Social interactions in farmed shrimp including competition, molting vulnerability, and cannibalism create welfare challenges that management strategies can partially address.
Shrimp social welfare reflects the ongoing uncertainty about shrimp sentience combined with documented evidence of behaviors consistent with pain avoidance during molting vulnerability. If shrimp experience negative states during predation events, cannibalism during molting represents welfare harm that management strategies can reduce. Shelter provision, appropriate feeding regimes, and stocking density management are practical interventions that improve survival rates while potentially reducing individual shrimp suffering if they are indeed sentient. These welfare-relevant improvements also serve production goals, creating alignment between animal welfare and farmer economic interests that supports adoption.