I think this is probably an underestimate, because I think that the estimates of shrimp suffering during death are probably too high.
(While I’m very critical of all of RP’s welfare range estimates, including shrimp, that’s not my point here. This argument doesn’t rely on any arguments about shrimp welfare ranges overall. I do compare humans and shrimp, but IIUC this sort of comparison is the thing you multiply by the welfare range estimate to get your utility value, if you’re into that)
(If ammonia interventions are developed that are really 1-2 OOMs better than stunning, then even under my utility function it might be in the same ballpark as the campaign against cage-free eggs and other animal charities)
Shrimp Freezing != Human Freezing
Shrimp stunning, as an intervention, attempts to “knock out” shrimp before they’re killed by being placed on ice, which has been likened to “suffocating in a suitcase in the antarctic”.
I think that’s a bad metaphor. Humans are endotherms and homeotherms, which means we maintain a constant internal body temperature which we generate internally. If it drops, a bunch of stress responses are triggered: shivering, discomfort, etc. which attempt to raise our temperature. Shrimp are poikilotherms, meaning they don’t regulate body temperature much at all. This means they don’t have the same stress responses to cold that we do.
(I also doubt that, given they have no lungs and can basically never “not breathe” in their normal environment, they’d experience the same stress from asphyxiation that we do, but this is weaker)
I would guess that being thrown onto ice effectively “stuns” the shrimp pretty quickly, as their metabolism—and therefore their synaptic activity—drops with their body temperature.
Shrimp Interventions
The hypothetical ammonia-reduction-in-shrimp-farm intervention has been touted as 1-2 OOMs more effective than shrimp stunning.
I think this is probably an underestimate, because I think that the estimates of shrimp suffering during death are probably too high.
(While I’m very critical of all of RP’s welfare range estimates, including shrimp, that’s not my point here. This argument doesn’t rely on any arguments about shrimp welfare ranges overall. I do compare humans and shrimp, but IIUC this sort of comparison is the thing you multiply by the welfare range estimate to get your utility value, if you’re into that)
(If ammonia interventions are developed that are really 1-2 OOMs better than stunning, then even under my utility function it might be in the same ballpark as the campaign against cage-free eggs and other animal charities)
Shrimp Freezing != Human Freezing
Shrimp stunning, as an intervention, attempts to “knock out” shrimp before they’re killed by being placed on ice, which has been likened to “suffocating in a suitcase in the antarctic”.
I think that’s a bad metaphor. Humans are endotherms and homeotherms, which means we maintain a constant internal body temperature which we generate internally. If it drops, a bunch of stress responses are triggered: shivering, discomfort, etc. which attempt to raise our temperature. Shrimp are poikilotherms, meaning they don’t regulate body temperature much at all. This means they don’t have the same stress responses to cold that we do.
(I also doubt that, given they have no lungs and can basically never “not breathe” in their normal environment, they’d experience the same stress from asphyxiation that we do, but this is weaker)
I would guess that being thrown onto ice effectively “stuns” the shrimp pretty quickly, as their metabolism—and therefore their synaptic activity—drops with their body temperature.