FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
No, this training is in open-access, and you can connect at any time of the day. If you prefer to learn by night, feel free to do it.
This training does not deliver any certificate as you do not have to connect to follow it. Nevertheless, if you wish to have a certificate, please contact us and we can imagine a new format.
Yes, this training is available on any digital medium and adapted to the different sizes of the screens.
Of course, you can contact us at any time through the contact form or by sending us an email: contact.camaronescare@gmail.com
Inded, the training can evolve depending on the new scientific data we will have.
Of course, you are more than welcome to share the best practices you implement. Feel free to send us an email or to contact us through the contact form.
Glossary
A glossary is included to help you understand the technical and specific terms used throughout the course.
It will clarify key concepts and ensure a better understanding of the topics covered.
The welfare of an animal is its positive mental and physical state as related to the fulfilment of its physiological and behavioural needs in addition to its expectations. This state can vary depending on the animal’s perception of a given situation. (ANSES, 2018)
Can be outisde or inside structures, depending on the production site (Latin America vs Asia) where shrimp grow until they each their target weight.
When shrimp are collected from the pond to be killed. Harvest can be done manually or with the use of a pump.
Often indoor infrastructures where breeders are raised, eggs are collected and larvae stay until they are post-larvae and they can be transfered to grow-out ponds.
The detection by a nervous system of actually or potentially noxious stimuli achieved by means of specialized receptors called nociceptors. It is possible, in principle, for a noxious stimulus to be detected without any experience or feeling on the part of the system that detects it (Birch et al, 2021).
Sensation that allows us to perceive the intensity, duration, and location of a harmful stimulus. It is not limited to a physical feeling but is also linked to an emotion influenced by the interpretation of the situation. Memory plays an important role in pain, helping to remember painful experiences to avoid them in the future.
The capacity to have feeling and to feel for example pain, distress, anxiety, joy…
There are several species and subspecies of shrimp. This course focuses on Penaeus vannamei, also known as Litopenaeus vannamei or white leg shrimp.
There are various methods used to kill the shrimp in the field, some of them being proved to be inhumane and some needing more scientific knowledge.
An emotional state of distress associated with events that threaten the biological or psychological integrity of the individual. The state of suffering can occur in the absence of physical pain and be purely psychological (Ilana, E. (1979).
Articles
Additional Resources
Additional resources, including articles, are provided to deepen the topics covered in the course.
These materials allow you to expand your knowledge and gain a better understanding of the challenges surrounding shrimp welfare in aquaculture.
Behaviour
Bardera, G., Usman, N., Owen, M., Pountney, D., Sloman, K. A., & Alexander, M. E. (2019). The importance of behaviour in improving the production of shrimp in aquaculture. Reviews in Aquaculture, 11(4), 1104-1132.
Consumer’s expectations
Oliveira, G. B., Griczinski, P., Pedrazzani, A. S., Quintiliano, M. H., & Molento, C. F. M. (2024). Brazilians‘ perception of shrimp sentience and welfare. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 71, 41-56.
Shrimp Welfare Project. Consumer attitudes towards shrimp welfare – An exploratory research study. 2023.
Density
da Costa, F. P., Gomes, B. S. F. D. F., Pereira, S. D. D. N. A., & de Fátima Arruda, M. (2016). Influence of stocking density on the behaviour of juvenile Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931). Aquaculture Research, 47(3), 912-924.
Said, M. M., Abo-Al-Ela, H. G., El-Barbary, Y. A., Ahmed, O. M., & Dighiesh, H. S. (2024). Influence of stocking density on the growth, immune and physiological responses, and cultivation environment of white-leg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) in biofloc systems. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 11147.
Eyestalk ablation
Taylor, J., Vinatea, L., Ozorio, R., Schuweitzer, R., & Andreatta, E. R. (2004). Minimizing the effects of stress during eyestalk ablation of Litopenaeus vannamei females with topical anesthetic and a coagulating agent. Aquaculture, 233(1-4), 173-179.
Zacarias, S., Carboni, S., Davie, A., & Little, D. C. (2019). Reproductive performance and offspring quality of non-ablated Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) under intensive commercial scale conditions. Aquaculture, 503, 460-466.
Zacarias, S., Fegan, D., Wangsoontorn, S., Yamuen, N., Limakom, T., Carboni, S., … & Shinn, A. P. (2021). Increased robustness of postlarvae and juveniles from non-ablated Pacific whiteleg shrimp, Penaeus vannamei, broodstock post-challenged with pathogenic isolates of Vibrio parahaemolyticus (VpAHPND) and white spot disease (WSD). Aquaculture, 532, 736033.
Feeding
Amaral, S. M. F. (2018). Establishment of a feeding protocol to improve survival and growth of whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus Vannamei) at RiaSearch (Master’s thesis, Universidade do Porto (Portugal)).
Bardera, G., Owen, M. A., Pountney, D., Alexander, M. E., & Sloman, K. A. (2019). The effect of short-term feed-deprivation and moult status on feeding behaviour of the Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). Aquaculture, 511, 734222.
Bardera, G., Owen, M. A., Façanha, F. N., Sloman, K. A., & Alexander, M. E. (2020). The influence of sex on feeding behaviour in Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 224, 104946.
Bardera, G., Owen, M. A., Façanha, F. N., Alcaraz-Calero, J. M., Alexander, M. E., & Sloman, K. A. (2021). The influence of density and dominance on Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) feeding behaviour. Aquaculture, 531, 735949.
Carvalho, E. A., & Nunes, A. J. (2006). Effects of feeding frequency on feed leaching loss and grow-out patterns of the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei fed under a diurnal feeding regime in pond enclosures. Aquaculture, 252(2-4), 494-502.
Moss, D. R., & Moss, S. M. (2006). Effects of gender and size on feed acquisition in the Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society, 37(2), 161-167.
Moss, A. S., Brooker, A. J., Ozioko, S. N., Nederlof, M. A., Debnath, S., & Schrama, J. (2024). Effects of feed processing type, protein source, and environmental salinity on Litopenaeus vannamei feeding behaviour. bioRxiv, 2024-03.
Nunes, A. J., Sá, M. V., Carvalho, E. A., & Neto, H. S. (2006). Growth performance of the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei reared under time-and rate-restriction feeding regimes in a controlled culture system. Aquaculture, 253(1-4), 646-652.
Reis, J., Weldon, A., Ito, P., Stites, W., Rhodes, M., & Davis, D. A. (2021). Automated feeding systems for shrimp: Effects of feeding schedules and passive feedback feeding systems. Aquaculture, 541, 736800.
Santos, A. D. A., López-Olmeda, J. F., Sánchez-Vázquez, F. J., & Fortes-Silva, R. (2016). Synchronization to light and mealtime of the circadian rhythms of self-feeding behavior and locomotor activity of white shrimps (Litopenaeus vannamei). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, 199, 54-61.
Ullman, C., Rhodes, M., Hanson, T., Cline, D., & Davis, D. A. (2019). Effects of four different feeding techniques on the pond culture of Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society, 50(1), 54-64.
Monitoring methods
Darodes de Tailly, J. B., Keitel, J., Owen, M. A., Alcaraz‐Calero, J. M., Alexander, M. E., & Sloman, K. A. (2021). Monitoring methods of feeding behaviour to answer key questions in penaeid shrimp feeding. Reviews in Aquaculture, 13(4), 1828-1843.
Huang, J., Hung, C. C., Kuang, S. R., Chang, Y. N., Huang, K. Y., Tsai, C. R., & Feng, K. L. (2018, November). The prototype of a smart underwater surveillance system for shrimp farming. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Manufacturing (ICAM) (pp. 177-180). IEEE.
Huang, J., Kuang, S. R., Chang, Y. N., Hung, C. C., Tsai, C. R., & Feng, K. L. (2019, October). AIoTs for smart shrimp farming. In 2019 International SoC Design Conference (ISOCC) (pp. 17-18). IEEE.
Hung, C. C., Tsao, S. C., Huang, K. H., Jang, J. P., Chang, H. K., & Dobbs, F. C. (2016). A highly sensitive underwater video system for use in turbid aquaculture ponds. Scientific reports, 6(1), 31810.
Sentience
Barr, S., Laming, P. R., Dick, J. T., & Elwood, R. W. (2008). Nociception or pain in a decapod crustacean?. Animal Behaviour, 75(3), 745-751.
Birch, J., Burn, C., Schnell, A., Browning, H., & Crump, A. (2021). Review of the evidence of sentience in cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans.
Slaughter
Neil, D. M., Albalat, A., & Thompson, J. (2022). The effects of electrical stunning on the nervous activity and physiological stress response of a commercially important decapod crustacean, the brown crab Cancer pagurus L. Plos one, 17(7), e0270960.
Neil, D. M., Putyora, E., & Albalat, A. (2024). Towards the humane slaughter of decapod crustaceans: identifying the most effective indicators of insensibility following electrical stunning. Frontiers in Animal Science, 5, 1378350.
Weineck, K., Ray, A. J., Fleckenstein, L. J., Medley, M., Dzubuk, N., Piana, E., & Cooper, R. L. (2018). Physiological changes as a measure of crustacean welfare under different standardized stunning techniques: Cooling and electroshock. Animals, 8(9), 158.
Social behaviour
Wu, B., Zhao, C., Zheng, X., Peng, Z., & Liu, M. (2024). Observation of Agonistic Behavior in Pacific White Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) and Transcriptome Analysis. Animals, 14(11), 1691.
Substrate/Enrichment
Da Silveira, L. G. P., Rosas, V. T., Krummenauer, D., Poersch, L. H., & Wasielesky Jr, W. (2022). Comparison between horizontal and vertical substrate in shrimp super-intensive culture in bioflocs system. Aquacultural Engineering, 96, 102218.
Fleckenstein, L. J., Kring, N. A., Tierney, T. W., Fisk, J. C., Lawson, B. C., & Ray, A. J. (2020). The effects of artificial substrate and stocking density on Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) performance and water quality dynamics in high tunnel-based biofloc systems. Aquacultural Engineering, 90, 102093.
Luchiari, A. C., Marques, A. O., & Freire, F. A. M. (2012). Effects of substrate colour preference on growth of the shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931)(Decapoda, Penaeoidea). Crustaceana, 789-800.
Otoshi, C. A., Montgomery, A. D., Matsuda, E. M., & Moss, S. M. (2006). Effects of Artificial Substrate and Water Source on Growth of Juvenile Pacific White Shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society, 37(2).
Zhang, B., Lin, W., Huang, J., Wang, Y., & Xu, R. (2010). Effects of artificial substrates on the growth, survival and spatial distribution of Litopenaeus vannamei in the intensive culture condition.
Zhang, Z., Gao, L., & Zhang, X. (2022). Environmental enrichment increases aquatic animal welfare: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Reviews in Aquaculture, 14(3), 1120-1135.
Time budget
Pontes, C. S., Arruda, M. D. F., Augusto de Lara Menezes, A., & Pereira de Lima, P. (2006). Daily activity pattern of the marine shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone 1931) juveniles under laboratory conditions. Aquaculture Research, 37(10), 1001-1006.
Welfare
Albalat, A., Zacarias, S., Coates, C. J., Neil, D. M., & Planellas, S. R. (2022). Welfare in farmed decapod crustaceans, with particular reference to Penaeus vannamei. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9, 886024.
Pedrazzani, A. S., Cozer, N., Quintiliano, M. H., Tavares, C. P. D. S., da Silva, U. D. A. T., & Ostrensky, A. (2023). Non-invasive methods for assessing the welfare of farmed white-leg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei). Animals, 13(5), 807.
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, 9(11), 440.
Reports
The case for the legal protection of decapod crustaceans (https://www.crustaceancompassion.org/legal-protection)
Shrimp : the animals most commonly used and killed for food production (https://rethinkpriorities.org/research-area/shrimp-the-animals-most-commonly-used-and-killed-for-food-production/)
Welfare considerations for farmed shrimp (https://rethinkpriorities.org/research-area/welfare-considerations-for-farmed-shrimp/)
Pre-slaughter mortality of farmed shrimp (https://rethinkpriorities.org/research-area/pre-slaughter-mortality-of-farmed-shrimp/)
Quantifying and prioritizing shrimp welfare threats (https://rethinkpriorities.org/research-area/quantifying-and-prioritizing-shrimp-welfare-threats/)
Other
Gamberoni, P., Wuertz, S., Bierbach, D., Bögner, M., & Slater, M. J. (2025). European perspectives on Litopenaeus vannamei aquaculture: An expert’s survey. Aquaculture Reports, 42, 102732.