Shrimp farming is plagued by infectious disease outbreaks that cause mass mortality and significant individual suffering. Welfare-conscious disease management balances biosecurity with animal welfare outcomes.
Disease management in shrimp farming sits at the intersection of production economics and animal welfare. Mass mortality events from disease represent enormous aggregate suffering if shrimp are sentient, as emerging evidence suggests they may be. Antibiotic-heavy responses to disease create antimicrobial resistance problems while failing to address underlying vulnerabilities. Biosecure production systems, selective breeding for disease resistance, and probiotic supplementation represent welfare-positive alternatives that also improve production sustainability. As understanding of shrimp sentience grows, disease management approaches that minimize mass suffering events — through prevention rather than reactive treatment — will be increasingly important.