The Mass Killing and Mutilation of Sentient Shrimp and How You Can Help Change the Industry

By Philip Kratz

Shrimp welfare in the UK is one of the most overlooked animal welfare issues today. While billions of animals are killed for food each year, shrimp deaths surpass all others — yet they receive little public attention. This article explores the scale of shrimp consumption, the growing scientific evidence of shrimp sentience, and why protecting these animals matters ethically and environmentally. In the end, I explore how you personally can make a difference - not only for shrimp but for everyone who can feel.

Image 1 - “Protest on prawn welfare” by Philip Kratz. Sign reads“Do shrimp have to suffocate in agony?” 

Many people assume chickens are the most killed animals in the UK, with over a billion slaughtered annually. However, shrimp likely surpass this number by a significant margin. In 2018 alone, UK consumers purchased approximately 40,000 tonnes of shrimp and prawns, most of them wild-caught or farmed overseas (Pegg, 2019). Because shrimp are sold by weight rather than by individual lives, exact numbers remain unclear — but estimates suggest billions of shrimp are killed each year for UK consumption.

Globally, the scale is staggering:

• 440 billion farmed shrimp are killed annually

• Between 4.1 trillion and 72 trillion wild shrimp are caught every year

  
  

 If 72 trillion shrimp stood nose-to-tail in a straight line (say each about 5 cm long), the chain would stretch 3.6 billion kilometres — that’s beyond Neptune, almost to the edge of our Solar System. The trillions of shrimp deaths are bad not just because of their magnitude, but each individual is also a sentient being.

Shrimp Sentience — What Science Now Confirms

For decades, shrimp were assumed to be incapable of feeling pain due to their simple nervous systems. This view has changed dramatically (Animal Ethics, 2025).

A 2021 UK government–commissioned report by the London School of Economics confirmed strong scientific evidence of sentience in decapod crustaceans, including shrimp (Birch et al., 2021). As a result, shrimp are now legally recognised in the UK as capable of feeling.

1. Pain and Protective Behaviour

Shrimp show nociceptive responses that go beyond reflex actions. When exposed to harmful stimuli, they groom, rub, and guard injured areas — behaviours consistent with conscious pain experience (Elwood, 2025; Kasiouras et al., 2024).

2. Stress and Emotional States

Under adverse conditions, shrimp release stress-related hormones such as CHH and serotonin, similar to vertebrate stress responses.  Research shows that overcrowding and environmental deprivation cause complex stress patterns in shrimp (Pedrazzani, 2024).

3. Motivational Trade-offs and Learning

Shrimp can learn to avoid painful experiences even when food rewards are involved. This ability to weigh costs and benefits is a recognised marker of sentience (Elwood, 2025).

4. Responses to Analgesics

When given anaesthetics or pain relief, shrimp show reduced responses to harmful stimuli. A 2023 review across 71 crustacean species found pain-reduction methods comparable to those used in vertebrates (Rotllant et al., 2023).

5. Cognitive Complexity and Sociality

Some shrimp species demonstrate cooperation, deception, and reconciliation within symbiotic relationships, suggesting social awareness and flexible learning (Soares, 2017; Broom, 2007).

Fun facts about Shrimp

Did you know that hundreds of different shrimp species exist? I didn’t know that before Liliana Lisina, a volunteer at the Shrimp Welfare Project, told me. In addition to being sentient, each of them has their own skills. Sadly, we cannot take a look at all of them, but here are three representatives. While shrimp cannot communicate the way humans do, perhaps this is how they would proudly introduce themselves. Let’s see if you can spot the impostor.

Image 2 - Coral-banded Shrimp;  Stenopus hispidus

Image 3 - Mantis Shrimp; Stomatopoda (Impostor - despite their name, they are not real shrimp!) 

Image 4 - Snapping Shrimp; Alpheus heterochaelis

Why Shrimp Are Overlooked

Shrimp suffer from what conservation psychologists call the “charisma gap” — humans empathise more with animals that have expressive faces and visible emotions (Courchamp et al., 2018).

Philosophers such as Oscar Horta (2017), Catia Faria and Peter Singer argue that moral concern should be based on the capacity to feel pain and happiness, not a certain intelligence or appearance. Neglecting the interests and preferences of shrimp is therefore a form of speciesism and highlights the need for moral circle expansion (Horta, 2017; Anthis & Paez, 2021). In conservation, this means moving away from a focus on preserving species for human benefit or ecosystem services and toward recognising the intrinsic value of individual sentient beings.  In short, a shift from anthropocentric to sentientist priorities.

Common Practices in the Shrimp (& Prawn) Industry

Despite legal recognition of shrimp sentience, the UK has no binding welfare codes specific to crustaceans.

One of the most harmful practices is “eyestalk ablation”, where a female shrimp’s eye is cut or crushed to induce reproduction.  Studies show this causes hormonal disruption, immune suppression, and significant suffering (Uawisetwathana et al., 2011).

Another widely criticised method is ice-slurry slaughter, where shrimp are left conscious in freezing water for hours.

UK supermarkets play a key role in shrimp welfare. Each packet of prawns sold in British stores represents an animal that may have endured overcrowding, disease, poor water quality, and invasive reproductive manipulation. 

Image 5 - “Eyestalk Ablation” - cutting off a female shrimp’s eye to promote fertility. - Footage from ICAW

The damage of catching wild shrimp on the environment

Wild shrimp fishing, particularly bottom trawling, causes extensive harm to other animals as well as environmental destruction (Oceancare, 2025; Marine Management Organisation, 2023):

• Destruction of seabed habitats

• Release of stored carbon

• Extremely high bycatch and injury rates; many sea animals are crushed, suffocated, or left to die slowly on deck (ICES, 2023)

The Rise of the Shrimp Welfare Movement

Founded in 2021, the Shrimp Welfare Project is the first NGO dedicated exclusively to shrimp welfare. Today, it helps an estimated 4.5 billion shrimp per year (Shrimp Welfare Project, 2024). After a protest in London, Tesco committed to eliminating “eyestalk ablation” and ice-slurry slaughter from its supply chain.  Next to Tesco, they work with various UK retailers to ensure their welfare policies explicitly include shrimp. According to Jonas Becker, Head of Invertebrate Welfare Policy at the International Council for Animal Welfare, seven out of the ten biggest UK supermarkets have committed to ending two of the most cruel practices in shrimp farming: eyestalk ablation and ice-slurry slaughter. The remaining three — Aldi, Lidl, and Asda — “have only taken partial steps or haven’t made full commitments yet”.

Other milestones include: 

• Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is phasing out eyestalk ablation in certified farms.

• Rethink Priorities (2022) identifies shrimp welfare as one of the most neglected yet cost-effective causes for reducing suffering 

How you can help 

These milestones show that change is possible when consumers, scientists, and advocates unite. Here is what you can do, according to Liliana Lisina: “Support organisations working to improve shrimp welfare! Every dollar donated to the Shrimp Welfare Project helps more than 1,000 shrimps each year. If you’re not able to donate, you can support by spreading the word, following them on social media, and subscribing to their newsletter.[...] Feel free to mention Shrimp Welfare Project as a resource — they're here to help.”

You can make a difference by:

• Supporting shrimp welfare organisations

• Sharing evidence-based information

• Encouraging retailers to adopt welfare policies

As Liliana Lisina explains, even small actions can reduce suffering for thousands of animals.

Your impact matters (and is needed!)

Improving welfare is a crucial and necessary step to improve the state of our world. However, whether welfare is the ultimate goal is a different question. From the human perspective, we might be improving the welfare, but from the animal’s perspective, it might just be a little less torture, violence or exploitation. If you are against torture, violence and exploitation, the simplest action to take is to stop supporting these practices financially and with your voice. Every day, the choice is yours to make, whether you fund a product (and industry) with a violent or non-violent origin.

Lastly, it is not just about shrimp. Many other animals are suffering in the wild as well as in human captivity. The shrimp welfare movement is successful through tasks that are “simple, specific, and both easy and rather cheap to implement — something companies could realistically say yes to”, says Jonas Becker.  Next to zooming into the individual’s experiences and avoiding industrial language. For instance, while the public might not immediately disagree with “eyestalk ablation”, they most likely will agree that cutting an animal’s eyes off is bad. So even if you agree that we should help shrimp, but you choose to prioritise focusing on other sentient beings, you can learn a lot from the shrimp welfare movement.

Next to helping animals who are already facing significant amounts of suffering, it is also relevant to mitigate future harm. Decades ago, shrimp were not the most killed animal on earth. Advanced technology in aquaculture farming and consumer choices made this happen. Similarly, other negative trends could emerge in the upcoming years. Therefore, work in technology policy, like AI alignment, is of utmost importance. It is up to our generation whether technologies are used to increase or decrease the amount of suffering beings on our planet experience. Considering the interests of all sentient beings in our actions is more needed today than ever before.

If you want to learn more about crustacean sentience, why not read Life and Death of a Decapod on our website?

References

• Animal Ethics (2025) Sentience in aquatic animals, Oakland: Animal Ethics, Article and License

• Anthis, J. R, Paez, Eze (2021). Moral circle expansion: A promising strategy to impact the far future, Futures, Volume 130, 102756, ISSN 0016-3287, Article and License

• Atwood TB, Romanou A, DeVries T, Lerner PE, Mayorga JS, Bradley D, Cabral RB, Schmidt GA and Sala E (2024). Atmospheric CO2 emissions and ocean acidification from bottom-trawling. Front. Mar. Sci. 10:1125137. Article and License

• Birch, J., Burn, C., Schnell, A., Browning, H., & Crump, A. (2021). Review of the Evidence of Sentience in Cephalopod Molluscs and Decapod Crustaceans. Animal Sentience.  Article and License. 

• Broom, D.M. (2007). Cognitive ability and sentience: Which aquatic animals should be protected? Dis. Aquat. Organ. Article and License.

• Courchamp F, Jaric I, Albert C, Meinard Y, Ripple WJ, Chapron G (2018). The paradoxical extinction of the most charismatic animals. PLoS Biol 16(4): e2003997. Article and License

• Elwood R. W. (2025). A History of Pain Studies and Changing Attitudes to the Welfare of Crustaceans. Animals: an open access journal from MDPI, 15(3), 445. Article and License

• Horta, O. (2017). Animal Suffering in Nature: The Case For Intervention. Environmental Ethics, 39(3), 261–279. Article and License

• ICES (2023). Working Group on Bycatch of Protected Species (WGBYC). ICES Scientific Reports. 5:111. 334 pp., pages 63ff Article and License

• Kasiouras, E.; Hubbard, P.C.; Gräns, A.; Sneddon, L.U. (2024). PutativeNociceptive Responses in a DecapodCrustacean: The Shore Crab (Carcinusmaenas). Biology 2024, 13, 851. (PDF) Putative Nociceptive Responses in a Decapod Crustacean: The Shore Crab (Carcinus maenas). Article and License

• Marine Management Organisation (2023). UK Sea Fisheries Annual Statistics. Article and Open Government Licence. 

• With kind permission from Oceancare. (2025). Bottom trawling: New report highlights need for action. Article Pedrazzani, A.S.; Cozer, N.; Quintiliano, M.H.; Ostrensky, A. (2024). Insights into Decapod Sentience: Applying the General Welfare Index (GWI) for Whiteleg Shrimp (Penaeus vannamei—Boone, 1931) Reared in Aquaculture Grow-Out Ponds. Fishes 2024, 9, 440. Article and License

• With kind permission from Pegg, S. (2019) Market Insight Factsheet: Prawn and Shrimp; seafish.org p. 3. Article 

• With kind permission from Rethink Priorities (2022). Welfare Considerations for Farmed Shrimp.Article 

• Rotllant G, Llonch P, García del Arco JA, Chic Ò, Flecknell P, Sneddon LU (2023). Methods to Induce Analgesia and Anesthesia in Crustaceans: A Supportive Decision Tool. Biology; 12(3):387. Article and License

• With kind permission from Shrimp Welfare Project (2024). Our Impact. Article.

• Soares, M. C. (2017). The Neurobiology of Mutualistic Behavior: The Cleanerfish Swims into the Spotlight. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 11, 191. Article and License

• Uawisetwathana, U. et al. (2011). Insights into Eyestalk Ablation Mechanism to Induce Ovarian Maturation in the Black Tiger Shrimp. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology.  Article and License

Image references: 

[1] “Protest on prawn welfare” by Philip Kratz. Sign reads“Do shrimp have to suffocate in agony?” 

[2] Coral-banded shrimp “Banded cleaner shrimp, Stenopus hispidus Grande Anse d'Arlet, Martinique.” by Waielby, CC 3.0 free to share and remix: License 

[3] Mantis Shrimp “Colorful Shrimp Underwater” by William Warby.  Pexels. License 

[4] Snapping Shrimp “Alpheus heterochaelis” by Hkchan123 at Chinese Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons, free to use and edit: License

[5] With kind permission from the International Council for Animal Welfare.  “Eyestalk Ablation - cutting off a female shrimp’s eye to promote fertility”