Disease is the leading cause of mortality in farmed shrimp, causing massive economic losses and significant animal suffering, with better management essential for both welfare and sustainability.
Disease in shrimp aquaculture represents both a major welfare concern and an economic problem. Mass mortality events involve suffering at enormous scale across billions of individual animals. Beyond mortality, chronic low-level infection causes physiological stress and reduced welfare in surviving animals. The widespread use of antibiotics in shrimp farming creates additional concerns including antibiotic resistance. Better biosecurity, water quality management, and selective breeding for disease resistance represent welfare-positive approaches that also make commercial sense.