The staggering numbers of shrimps and prawns caught from the wild has been estimated for 2020¹ by researchers at Rethink Priorities. According to this research, an estimated 25 trillion (range 6.5 to 66 trillion) shrimps and prawns were caught from the wild that year¹. These comprised

• 19 trillion (range 4.1 to 55 trillion) Akiami paste shrimp (Acetes japonicus) and
• 6.3 trillion (range 0.6 to 30 trillion) individuals of other species.

This research illustrates how reporting production of aquatic animals in tonnages masks the vast numbers of individuals affected. In terms of tonnage for 2020, the production of shrimps and prawns from farming (7.4 million tonnes²) was double that from wild capture (3.1 million tonnes²). However, in terms of midpoints of estimated numbers, wild-caught individuals (25 trillion¹) were around 50 times greater than those farmed (450 billion³) due to their generally smaller size.