Virtual Research Seminar Series
Around 440 billion shrimp are farmed and slaughtered worldwide each year, over half of which are Penaeus vannamei (whiteleg shrimp). These animals receive little legal or industry protection, despite recent evidence suggesting a non-negligible likelihood of sentience in penaeid shrimp species. Consequently, farmed shrimp can undergo poor welfare conditions, including suboptimal water quality, which can increase stress, physiological deterioration, disease rates, and mortality. Certification schemes, e.g. from the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, have emerged as a potential method to improve farm management practices, but their actual impact on shrimp welfare remains largely unexamined.
This research investigates whether the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s certification scheme measurably improves welfare on shrimp farms. We conducted field assessments across 42 certified and non-certified Penaeus vannamei farms in India, one of the world’s largest shrimp exporters. We tested a range of key water quality parameters, including pH, nitrites, dissolved oxygen, and unionised ammonia.
There was no significant difference between certified and non-certified farms in terms of overall water quality, nor for individual parameters. In this seminar, I will discuss potential reasons for this, including challenges in implementing and monitoring standards, and suggest ways the certification scheme could be strengthened to support animal welfare.
To our knowledge, this is the first comparative farm-level study of shrimp welfare. I will outline methodological challenges with collecting such data and provide guidance for researchers interested in conducting similar research.
Producing shrimp in certified farms: Does it improve their welfare?
May 19 | 5 PM BST
Urja Thakrar, PhD Student, Royal Veterinary College
Upcoming Seminars
TBD: stay tuned for more on our future seminars!
Past Seminars on our YouTube
March 2026 - “Debating Insect Sentience and Welfare” (Vivek Nityananda; Senior Lecturer; Newcastle University)
January 2026 - “Dietary preferences and impacts of feeding on behavior, longevity, and reproduction in adult black solider flies” (Edward Waddell; Assistant Professor, Biology; Holy Family University)
November 2025 - “Positive and negative affective states, motivational trade-offs, and consequences of tagging in a cockroach” (David Fisher; Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences; University of Aberdeen)
September 2025 - “Blood Money: The history of horseshoe crabs in science and medicine” (Kristoffer Whitney; Associate Professor, Department of Science, Technology, and Society; Rochester Institute of Technology)
August 2025 -“How Can We Measure Sentience in an Insect?” (Matilda Gibbons; University of Pennsylvania, Department of Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine)
June 2025 -“When and Why Are Motivational Trade-Offs Evidence of Sentience?” (Simon Brown, Research Officer, London School of Economics, UK)
May 2025 - “Investigations on the possibility of pain in crustaceans and changes in how these animals are used” (Emeritus Professor Bob Elwood; Queen’s University, Belfast, UK)
April 2025 -“The 3Rs Principles in Invertebrate Research” (Dr. Miriam A Zemanova; University of Fribourg, Switzerland)
October 2024 -“Identifying trends in reporting on the ethical treatment of insects in research” (Craig Perl, PhD; Insect Welfare Research Society, USA)
August 2024 - “The Sphex story: How humans kept repeating themselves” (Fred Keijzer, PhD; University of Groningen, the Netherlands)
June 2024 -“How honeybees think” (Andrew Barron, PhD; Macquarie University, AU)
April 2024 - “The moral status of insects” (Jeff Sebo, PhD; New York University, USA)
March 2024 - “The needs and means of using non-lethal methods in entomological research” (Gabor Lövei, PhD; Aarhus University & University of Debrecen & Marco Ferrante, PhD; Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany)
February 2024 - “Evaluating electrical stunning as a humane slaughter method for decapod crustaceans: Lessons learned when assessing sensitivity” (Amaya Albalat, PhD; University of Stirling, UK) - view slides here
December 2023 - “How the cricket feels and what the mealworm has to say: The influence of rearing environments on insect welfare in different food and feed production systems” (Alexander Haverkamp, PhD; Wageningen University, the Netherlands)
October 2023 - “Insect Sentience” (Lars Chittka, PhD; Queen Mary University of London, UK) - view recording of comparable talk at UFAW, here
August 2023 -“How Can We Know What is Good for Insects?” (Heather Browning, PhD; Southhampton University, UK)
June 2023 - “Insect welfare: Solid foundations for an emerging field” (Meghan Barrett, PhD; California State University Dominguez Hills, USA)