Examining the welfare implications of disease management in shrimp aquaculture — the world's most valuable aquaculture sector — including antibiotic use, biosecurity, and disease prevention approaches.
Shrimp disease management occupies a complex welfare position. The sentience status of shrimp — whether they experience something like suffering — remains scientifically uncertain but is increasingly taken seriously given their neural complexity, nociceptive responses, and stress physiology. Disease outbreaks that kill large percentages of a population may involve significant individual distress if shrimp are sentient to any degree. Prevention-focused approaches — SPF broodstock, biosecurity, probiotics, and appropriate stocking densities that reduce disease pressure — are both welfare-positive under uncertainty and economically superior to reactive treatment. The antibiotic use dimension connects shrimp welfare to the broader public health concern of antimicrobial resistance.