Shrimp Welfare Project

Shrimp Welfare Project

Abbreviation	SWP
Founded	2021 (2021)
Founders	Andrés Jiménez Zorrilla Aaron Boddy
Type	Charity
Registration no.	1204414
Headquarters	London, England
Region served	England India Vietnam
Methods	Corporate outreach producer outreach research
Fields	Farmed shrimp welfare
CEO	Krzysztof Wojtas
Affiliations	Eurogroup for Animals
Revenue	£2,242,275 (2025)
Expenses	£592,743 (2025)
Website	shrimpwelfareproject.org

Shrimp Welfare Project (SWP) is a British charity focused on farmed shrimp welfare. Founded in 2021 by Andrés Jiménez Zorrilla and Aaron Boddy, it emerged from an incubation programme associated with the effective altruism movement. It works with shrimp producers and retailers on electrical stunning before slaughter, stocking density, water quality and the elimination of eyestalk ablation, and conducts research on shrimp welfare.

SWP became a member of Eurogroup for Animals in 2022. Animal Charity Evaluators first named it a Recommended Charity in 2023 and renewed its recommendation in 2025.

History

Shrimp Welfare Project (SWP) arose from the 2020 cohort of the Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program. The programme matched Jiménez Zorrilla, who had left a career in private equity, with Aaron Boddy. The founders chose shrimp welfare after considering the number of shrimp farmed for food, research on their capacity for sentience, and the small amount of animal advocacy then directed specifically at shrimp. The organisation began operating in 2021.

In May 2022, SWP joined Eurogroup for Animals, which described it at the time as based in the United Kingdom and Spain and as the first organisation devoted exclusively to shrimp welfare. Shrimp Welfare Project Ltd was incorporated on 30 March 2022. It was registered as a charity in England and Wales on 21 August 2023.

Activities

Humane slaughter

SWP's largest programme is its Humane Slaughter Initiative, through which it works with shrimp producers and retailers to replace methods such as asphyxiation and immersion in ice slurry with electrical stunning before slaughter. Producers that meet specified farming requirements and commit to stunning at least 120 million shrimp annually can receive electrical stunning equipment at minimal or no cost. In February 2025, The Observer reported that SWP was supplying electrical stunners to producers and working with the seafood industry on farming and slaughter practices.

In its 2025 assessment, Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) reported that SWP had deployed eight stunners and signed agreements to provide 17 in total, projected to affect about 3.3 billion farmed shrimp each year. SWP also approaches retailers, principally in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, seeking commitments to source shrimp from suppliers using electrical stunning and other welfare measures. ACE reported that SWP had engaged seven of the 11 main UK shrimp retailers and obtained six public commitments during 2024 and 2025. By August 2026, ACE reported that SWP had signed 33 memoranda of understanding with producers and seafood suppliers and estimated that, once the associated stunners were operational, the initiative would cover about 6.1 billion shrimp annually.

Eyestalk ablation

Diagram showing the location where the eyestalk is cut or cauterised during eyestalk ablation, a practice opposed by the Shrimp Welfare Project.

SWP campaigns against eyestalk ablation, in which part or all of a female shrimp's eyestalk is removed to stimulate reproduction. Its agreements with producers can require broodstock to be obtained from hatcheries that do not use the practice.

Farming conditions and research

Through its Sustainable Shrimp Farmers of India programme, SWP works with small-scale farmers on conditions during the shrimp's life. The programme has included removing accumulated sludge from ponds and requiring participating farms to reduce stocking densities. ACE reported that the first full year of the pilot was completed in 2024, covering 100 acres of ponds.

The organisation conducts and supports research on shrimp sentience, farming conditions and slaughter methods. It has also developed the Shrimp Welfare Index, a framework for assessing welfare practices in the farming of whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei).

Evaluation

Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) first named SWP a Recommended Charity in 2023. ACE's 2023 review assessed its work in corporate outreach, producer outreach, research and movement-building, while noting uncertainty about the effectiveness of some forms of producer and corporate outreach.

In its 2025 assessment, ACE concluded that SWP's programmes were producing welfare improvements but described its level of uncertainty as moderate. It cited uncertainty about the implementation of electrical stunners in different settings, shrimp sentience, the likelihood of obtaining further commitments and the welfare effects of sludge removal. ACE also said its cost-effectiveness estimates had limited explanatory power because of difficulties in estimating the suffering averted by the interventions and uncertainty about correct implementation.

Public response

SWP's connection with effective altruism and its focus on shrimp have attracted criticism. In 2025, Dylan Matthews of Vox described the organisation as a subject of controversy among animal advocates and of criticism directed at effective altruism. Critics cited by Matthews argued that the focus on shrimp illustrated problems with applying quantitative approaches to moral priorities. Jiménez Zorrilla told Matthews that the question was not whether shrimp were more important than humans, but whether shrimp welfare was important enough for some people to work on.

Finances

According to the Charity Commission for England and Wales, SWP had income of £2,242,275 and expenditure of £592,743 in the financial year ending 31 March 2025. About £2.18 million of its income came from donations and legacies.

See also

• Animal welfare and rights in India
• Animal welfare in the United Kingdom
• Animal welfare science
• Ethics of uncertain sentience
• Marine shrimp farming
• Pain in crustaceans

External links

• Official website
• "Shrimp Welfare Project, registered charity no. 1204414". Charity Commission for England and Wales.