Thank you all for the very interesting discussion.
I think addressing the greatest sources of suffering is a promising approach to robustly increase welfare. However, I believe the focus should be on the greatest sources of suffering in the ecosystem, not in any given population, such that effects on non-target organisms can be neglected. Electrically stunning farmed shrimps arguably addresses one of the greatest sources of suffering of farmed shrimps, and the ratio between its effects on target and non-target organisms is much larger than for the vast majority of interventions, but I still do not know whether it increases or decreases welfare (even in expectation) due to potentially dominant effects on soil animals and microorganisms.
I expect the greatest sources of suffering in the ecosystem to be found in the organisms accounting for the most suffering in the ecosystem. However, I would say much more research on comparing welfare across species is needed to identify such organisms. I can see them being vertebrates, invertebrates, trees, or microorganisms.
I worry very specific unrealistic conditions will be needed to ensure the effects on non-target organisms can be neglected if it is not known which organisms account for the most suffering in the ecosystem. So I would prioritise research on comparing welfare across species over mapping sources of suffering in ecosystems.
Thank you all for the very interesting discussion.
I think addressing the greatest sources of suffering is a promising approach to robustly increase welfare. However, I believe the focus should be on the greatest sources of suffering in the ecosystem, not in any given population, such that effects on non-target organisms can be neglected. Electrically stunning farmed shrimps arguably addresses one of the greatest sources of suffering of farmed shrimps, and the ratio between its effects on target and non-target organisms is much larger than for the vast majority of interventions, but I still do not know whether it increases or decreases welfare (even in expectation) due to potentially dominant effects on soil animals and microorganisms.
I expect the greatest sources of suffering in the ecosystem to be found in the organisms accounting for the most suffering in the ecosystem. However, I would say much more research on comparing welfare across species is needed to identify such organisms. I can see them being vertebrates, invertebrates, trees, or microorganisms.
I worry very specific unrealistic conditions will be needed to ensure the effects on non-target organisms can be neglected if it is not known which organisms account for the most suffering in the ecosystem. So I would prioritise research on comparing welfare across species over mapping sources of suffering in ecosystems.