Biofloc technology in shrimp aquaculture uses microbial communities to improve water quality and nutrition, with potential welfare benefits through reduced chemical use and better environmental conditions.
Biofloc technology represents an example where production innovation and welfare improvement align, a combination that tends to drive faster adoption than welfare-only motivations. By processing waste in situ through microbial communities, biofloc systems maintain more stable water chemistry, reducing the chronic low-grade hypoxia and ammonia stress that compromise shrimp welfare in less intensively managed systems. The reduction in antibiotic use removes treatment-associated welfare costs. Nutritional supplementation from microbial biomass improves feed conversion efficiency while potentially improving nutritional welfare. The technology is not without challenges — maintaining beneficial microbial communities requires skill and vigilance — but when properly managed, it represents a genuine welfare improvement over conventional pond aquaculture for farmed shrimp.