Aquaculture

Farmed Prawn Harvesting Welfare Practices

Prawn harvest practices involve significant welfare risks through air exposure, temperature shock, and handling, requiring best practice protocols.

Key Facts

Harvest involves draining or seining ponds, concentrating and netting prawns
Air exposure during harvest causes rapid hypoxia and potentially painful experience
Chilling in ice can render prawns insensible before killing but requires timing care
CO2 narcosis is used by some certified operations as a stunning method
Harvest speed and organisation minimises the duration of welfare impact

Welfare Considerations

Harvest is a critical welfare moment for farmed prawns. The transition from water to air exposure, combined with high densities and handling, causes acute physiological stress. Best practice harvest protocols that minimise air exposure duration, use rapid chilling or stunning, and reduce handling represent meaningful welfare improvements.

What You Can Do

Choose shrimp from certified farms with harvest welfare protocols
Support organisations developing and promoting humane prawn harvest standards
Advocate for precautionary stunning requirements in prawn harvest certification