Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease has devastated shrimp aquaculture globally, and prevention strategies that improve water quality and reduce density simultaneously improve welfare.
AHPND prevention aligns welfare and economic interests more completely than almost any other intervention in shrimp aquaculture. The disease causes rapid, catastrophic mortality — shrimp experiencing AHPND die from organ failure within days — and prevention strategies that reduce disease risk also improve baseline welfare conditions. Reducing stocking density reduces both AHPND risk and competitive stress. Improving water quality reduces pathogen load and reduces the physiological stress that compromises shrimp immune function. Biosecurity practices that prevent pathogen introduction protect both individual shrimp welfare and farm economic viability. The convergence of welfare and economic incentives makes AHPND prevention an excellent entry point for introducing welfare thinking into shrimp farming contexts where animal welfare has not previously been a management focus.