Disease outbreaks in shrimp aquaculture cause mass mortality events affecting billions of animals annually, with biosecurity failures causing both enormous economic losses and profound welfare impacts on individual shrimp.
The welfare implications of shrimp disease outbreaks depend partly on contested questions about shrimp sentience. If shrimp experience pain or distress, mass disease events causing rapid deterioration and death in billions of animals represent enormous welfare harms. The precautionary principle suggests treating potential shrimp suffering seriously given uncertainty about their pain experience. Biosecurity improvements that prevent disease outbreaks reduce both economic losses and potential welfare harms simultaneously. High-density stocking that increases disease transmission risk represents a management choice that may conflict with welfare under precautionary reasoning.