Humane Slaughter Initiative

Promoting more humane slaughter methods

This initiative focuses on improving animal welfare during harvest and slaughter in the global aquaculture industry.

The programme aims to promote humane practices by providing electrical stunners to aquaculture operations at minimal or no cost, ensuring that animals experience minimal stress and pain during slaughter. 

As part of this initiative, producers commited to stunning a certain volume and following good farming practices will be provided with an electrical stunner. 

This effort enhances animal welfare standards and supports the industry's commitment to ethical and sustainable practices.

What is the initiative?

The Humane Slaughter Initiative aims to promote the adoption of electrical stunning technology in the shrimp industry.

By joining this initiative, producers will receive their first electrical stunner, enabling them to significantly improve shrimp welfare on their farms, provided they commit to stunning at least 1,800-2,000 metric tons of shrimp annually. The programme has shown the feasibility of humane slaughter across a number of regions, contexts and different farming systems globally, helping producers lead the way in setting new standards for ethical practices in aquaculture.

Why collaborate with us?

  • SWP is the first organisation exclusively focused on shrimp welfare.

  • SWP can provide free-of-charge equipment to improve shrimp welfare in the slaughter process.

  • Participating producers could also improve their standing with buyers and certifiers of higher-welfare shrimps.

  • Participating producers would become pioneering suppliers of higher-welfare shrimps.

Why is it important?

  • Shrimp sentience has been established in scientific literature and recognised in legislation in various jurisdictions. 

  • Consumers all over the world are increasingly demanding higher welfare standards for animal products  (See SWP’s report on Consumer Attitudes Towards Shrimp Welfare). Therefore, retailers are actively working to improve the welfare of animals in their supply chain to better meet customer expectations.

  • A number of forward-thinking retailers, like Tesco, M&S, Sainsbury's,  John Lewis Partnership, Ocado, and Albert Heijn, have already made public commitments to using electrical stunning in their farmed shrimp supply chains. We expect the group of welfare-conscious retailers to continue to increase dramatically in the coming years.

  • Experts on crustacean and shrimp welfare consider electrical stunning the most humane stunning pre-slaughter practice currently available for shrimps. It is more effective and significantly faster than immersion in ice slurry and asphyxia in rendering shrimps unconscious before slaughter. 

  • Electrical stunning equipment is a significant investment for shrimp producers, particularly in the current market environment. On the other hand, we are convinced that electrical stunning will inevitably become a standard practice in harvest and slaughter of farmed shrimps.

Fact Sheets

Optimar electrical stunner

Ace Aquatec electrical stunner

Disclaimer: SWP is a UK-registered charity with no commercial ties to Optimar, Ace Aquatec, or any other organisation involved in this programme.

Current collaborators

We are proud to have partnered with the following producers to provide them with stunning equipment:

FAQs

  • SWP welcomes applications and referrals for any producers meeting the following criteria:

    • Min stunned volume of 1,800-2,000 MT/year (depending on the stunner model).

    • ‘Good’ (or improving) welfare practices in other areas, e.g. no eyestalk ablation, water quality, stocking density.

    • Ability to safely integrate stunner (transport, power, usage) directly at each pond/harvesting site.

    • Agreement to support occasional and pre-agreed visits by other parties considering stunner adoption.

  • If eligible, full requirements will be outlined in a draft MOU for review. In general terms, the buyer agrees to prioritise humanely slaughtered producers, the producer agrees to minimum volumes stunned, and SWP agrees to pay for the price of the stunner. Please note that the producer is responsible for all freight and import duties (if any).

  • The stunner can be transported by small truck or mounted as a mobile unit. The units are robust and much of the technology has been well proven in the finfish industry. Maintenance is typically light and full training / support will be provided by the stunner manufacturer.

  • Subject to sign-off on the MOU by all parties, the stunner manufacturer has a lead time from order to delivery of approximately 6 months. This is typically a 4-month build, plus 1-2 months shipping. It may be possible to reduce timelines when SWP coordinates multiple unit orders in parallel.

  • SWP grants the producer indefinite usage, but retains ownership of the equipment and can reclaim if agreed terms are not being met - for instance minimum volumes, welfare standards, equipment cleaning/maintenance, etc. Current funding allows for one unit per producer only; further units would need to be analysed and negotiated in good faith after a minimum period of 12 months of successful utilisation.

How to Apply

For a limited period, Shrimp Welfare Project is willing to provide electrical stunning equipment to producers who fulfil certain minimum requirements.

Given our limited financial resources, we want to find the best candidates to receive the sponsored equipment based on whether they have potentially interested buyers and the volume of shrimps that they would be able to commit to using the equipment for.

Please fill out the form below if you are interested in being considered to receive electrical shrimp stunning equipment sponsored by SWP.

Still have questions?

Drop us an email at info@shrimpwelfareproject.org