Disease outbreaks in shrimp farms cause massive mortality and raise questions about the welfare of billions of animals. Understanding shrimp disease management illuminates key welfare challenges in aquaculture.
Disease outbreaks in shrimp farms represent welfare events of enormous scale that receive almost no attention in welfare discourse. Billions of shrimp die annually in disease outbreaks, and the question of what they experience during mass mortality events has rarely been asked. Given the growing evidence that decapod crustaceans have some capacity for pain-related experiences, the possibility that mass mortality from bacterial necrosis, viral infection, or fungal disease involves suffering deserves at least precautionary consideration. The industry incentive to prevent disease is purely economic, but welfare considerations align with these economic interests: preventing the conditions that favor disease - overcrowding, poor water quality, stress - also reduces potential shrimp suffering.