Transporting live shrimp from farms to processing or live markets causes significant mortality and likely suffering. Improved transport methods and protocols can substantially reduce these welfare costs.
Shrimp transport welfare sits at the intersection of genuine uncertainty about shrimp sentience and clear evidence of physiological stress markers during poor transport conditions. Whether shrimp experience subjective suffering during oxygen deprivation or temperature shock is genuinely unknown, but their physiological responses including elevated cortisol analogs, altered behavior, and immune suppression indicate that transport conditions matter biologically. From a precautionary welfare perspective, the case for improving transport conditions is strong: the improvements that reduce mortality (better oxygenation, temperature control, lower density) are the same ones that reduce physiological stress markers, suggesting they likely improve welfare if shrimp are sentient.