Tiny Lives, Massive Scale: Rethinking the Ethics of Eating Shrimp

When we talk about animal suffering, our minds usually drift to farmed mammals like pigs or cows, maybe chickens if we’re thinking in numbers. But the biggest number of all? Shrimp.

Yes, shrimp, the tiny crustaceans we mindlessly toss into paella, pad Thai, and party platters, may be enduring some of the worst and most overlooked suffering in the animal agriculture system. And not in small numbers. Each year, it’s estimated that more than 440 billion shrimp are killed on farms alone. That’s more than four times the number of chickens killed globally, and that figure is expected to rise to 760 billion by 2033.

If numbers matter, shrimp should matter. So why don’t they?

But do shrimp really feel pain?

While shrimp look like little aliens from another world, the evidence is mounting that they aren’t just unconscious meat machines. Research has found that the most commonly farmed species, penaeid shrimp, possess nociceptors, the nerve cells required to detect and respond to harmful stimuli.

What’s more, when exposed to painkillers, shrimp reduce grooming of injured areas and appear calmer, behavioural signs often used to indicate the presence of pain. A 2021 review by researchers at the London School of Economics, commissioned by the UK government, concluded that all decapods (crustaceans like crabs, lobsters, and shrimp) should be treated as sentient.

The bottom line: shrimp likely feel pain. They just don’t scream when it happens.

How do shrimp die?

Horrifically, and invisibly.

Shrimp are often killed in ice slurry baths, a mix of crushed ice and water designed to stun and kill them slowly. But “stunning” may not be the right word. Experts suggest that the process may actually just paralyse the shrimp, leaving them unable to move but still capable of feeling pain as they freeze to death.

Some are transported alive to processing plants, only to suffocate or be crushed under the weight of other shrimp. In one report, researchers observed transport containers in Vietnam “with very little water or slurry, with animals crowding inside,” resulting in deaths by asphyxia and crushing.

Even hatcheries aren’t safe: one common practice called eyestalk ablation involves cutting the eyes off mother shrimp without anaesthetic to induce higher egg production.

Why is no one talking about this?

Shrimp don’t have advocates. They don’t feature in vegan billboards. They’re not cuddly. And they’re hard to photograph without reminding people of cockroaches.

But the issue isn’t just image, it’s scale. There’s a sense that caring about shrimp means caring too much. That worrying about tiny animals somehow diminishes larger efforts. But as Shrimp Welfare Project cofounder Andrés Jiménez Zorrilla puts it:

“The question is whether this thing is important enough for some people to spend some time on. The answer to us was incontrovertibly yes.”

Through simple, low-cost interventions, like donating electric stunning machines to shrimp farms, Jiménez Zorrilla’s team is already improving conditions for around 4 billion shrimp per year. That’s 1% of the global farmed total. Tiny changes. Massive impact.

So what can you do?

• Go plant-based: Not eating shrimp is the most immediate way to reduce their suffering.

• Recognise shrimp as animals, not ingredients.

• Avoid farmed shrimp when you can — most are raised in conditions that would be illegal if applied to vertebrates.

• Support welfare initiatives like Shrimp Welfare Project that work with producers to reduce suffering.

• Talk about shrimp. Awareness is the first step. Silence is what keeps this cruelty hidden.

This blog was informed by Kenny Torrella’s article “The case for caring about shrimp” published by Vox on 11 September, 2025. We recommend reading the full piece for further context and insight.