Selective breeding programs in shrimp aquaculture shape the welfare trajectory of billions of animals, with decisions made at the genetic level having massive downstream impacts.
Decisions made in shrimp breeding programs have welfare implications at breathtaking scale. Selecting for disease resistance that reduces epidemic mortality events may prevent suffering for billions of animals per production cycle. Conversely, selecting exclusively for growth rate without consideration of physiological stress could impose chronic discomfort on countless animals. The uncertainty about shrimp sentience should not prevent precautionary welfare consideration at the breeding level, where decisions are made that affect entire populations for generations. Integrating welfare indicators into breeding objectives, as has begun in salmon and poultry genetics, represents a high-leverage intervention that reaches animals before they are even hatched.