Shrimp are the most traded seafood globally, with most production from intensive tropical aquaculture. Understanding their welfare needs challenges assumptions about invertebrate sentience.
Shrimp welfare is an emerging area of concern as evidence grows that these crustaceans have functional pain responses. Eyestalk ablation involves cutting or crushing the eyestalks of female broodstock to induce maturation, an evidently painful procedure performed without anesthesia. High stocking densities cause chronic crowding stress and disease transmission that leads to mass die-offs and suffering for surviving individuals. The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness extended to some invertebrates, and subsequent research has strengthened the case for precautionary welfare consideration for shrimp. Welfare-focused certification schemes now exist that prohibit eyestalk ablation and specify maximum stocking densities.