Shrimp aquaculture involves welfare concerns including eye ablation to stimulate reproduction, high stocking densities causing aggression, and poor water quality in many operations.
Shrimp welfare presents both scientific and ethical complexity. The evidence for sentience in decapod crustaceans including shrimp has strengthened considerably - these animals show avoidance learning, nociception, and behavioural responses consistent with pain experience. Eye ablation causes tissue damage in an animal that may experience pain, performed for commercial convenience when alternatives (selective breeding for domesticated reproductive traits) exist but require more investment. High density culture creates chronic stress, injury from aggression, and disease vulnerability. Welfare improvement requires breeding companies to phase out ablation, and farms to manage stocking density and water quality to reduce chronic stress.