Shrimp is the world's most traded seafood, with billions of individuals farmed in conditions raising significant welfare concerns about sentience, stress and slaughter.
Shrimp welfare is a rapidly emerging area given the enormous scale of shrimp production and growing evidence for crustacean sentience. The precautionary principle suggests taking shrimp welfare seriously even where scientific certainty is incomplete. Key welfare concerns include eyestalk ablation to induce spawning (a painful mutilation with no analgesic), high stocking densities causing stress and disease, and slaughter methods that may cause prolonged suffering. The Shrimp Welfare Project is developing welfare guidelines and working with producers to improve practices at scale.