Prawns and shrimp are among the most widely farmed and consumed seafood globally. Their potential capacity for pain-like experiences makes welfare in prawn aquaculture an important and growing ethical issue.
Prawn welfare sits at the frontier of aquatic animal welfare science and ethics. The evidence for sentience in decapod crustaceans — including prawns — has strengthened significantly in recent years. The UK recognized decapod crustacean sentience in the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022, a regulatory watershed. Eyestalk ablation in breeding females, a universally practiced method of inducing molting and spawning, causes trauma and pain in a species increasingly recognized as sentient. Disease outbreaks causing mass die-offs represent millions of animals experiencing stress and death in conditions that may involve suffering. Stocking densities in intensive prawn farms severely restrict natural behavioral repertoire. Slaughter by boiling alive or freezing without prior insensibility raises serious welfare concerns. The scale of prawn farming — far exceeding all mammalian and avian agriculture combined in numbers — means that even small welfare improvements per individual represent enormous aggregate benefit.