Shrimp farming is one of the largest animal production systems globally, with welfare considerations for billions of animals that are often overlooked.
Farmed shrimp welfare exists at the frontier of welfare science where the probability of morally relevant experience is uncertain but the scale of production is so enormous that even small probabilities create significant moral stakes. Eye stalk ablation — the removal of eye stalks containing hormones that suppress reproductive cycles — is performed without anesthesia and almost certainly causes harm to these animals. Intensive production densities, disease outbreaks, and poor water quality cause stress responses in shrimp regardless of the ultimate question of their capacity for subjective experience.