Disease outbreaks are the most catastrophic welfare and economic events in shrimp farming. Biosecurity practices that prevent disease protect billions of shrimp from suffering and death.
Disease in shrimp aquaculture causes mass mortality events that represent enormous amounts of suffering compressed into brief time periods. The welfare implications of millions of shrimp dying from viral or bacterial infections in a pond are difficult to fully characterize given uncertainty about shrimp sentience, but given evidence of basic nociception in crustaceans, precautionary concern is appropriate. Beyond mortality, disease-stressed shrimp before death exhibit behavioral changes indicating physiological distress. The best welfare approach is prevention through excellent biosecurity that reduces disease pressure. This aligns with economic interests, making biosecurity investment one of the areas where welfare and productivity goals are most aligned in aquaculture.