Live prawns and shrimps transported for sale in restaurant aquaria or live markets experience stress from handling, overcrowding, and variable water quality that may cause suffering in species whose sentience is increasingly recognized.
The welfare of prawns in live transport depends on the same unresolved sentience questions as other crustacean welfare issues, but the behavioral evidence is sufficient to warrant precautionary concern. Overcrowded transport containers with declining oxygen levels create conditions that produce behavioral responses consistent with distress. Pre-transport killing with immediate chilling maintains product quality while eliminating the welfare uncertainty of live transport.