The Future of Shrimp: Why Indoor Tank Farming Could Revolutionize the Industry

“The United States is currently importing 1.2 billion pounds of shrimp a year from Asia. It is cheap to U.S. consumers, but it’s being produced in an unsustainable way. It will stop…and when it does stop there has to be an alternative way to produce seafood” (Hourigan, 2013, p.1). Because the shrimp supply crisis is growing exponentially, it is the job of countries like the United States, who have resources and technology that less economically developed countries do not, to find a sustainable alternative to the current destructive farming practices that are rapidly damaging ecosystems and endangering human health. In order to pursue this goal of an alternative shrimp farming practice, this paper will seek to provide answers to the problem through research, with particular interest in a new method of growing shrimp that uses indoor tanks and recirculating water to make a zero waste operation that produces domestic, healthy, and safe shrimp in the United States, specifically the Midwest. This research will examine environmental concerns of current shrimp production, health concerns with imported shrimp, global and domestic consumption rates, and recent technology developments. At the conclusion of this research, a business plan for a low resource farmer looking to begin an indoor shrimp farm in Kansas, USA will be provided