"With Wild Stocks of Shrimp Dwindling, Tank Farming Is on the Rise"

"STOUGHTON, Mass. — In a warehouse south of Boston, miles away from the city’s bustling harbor, James Tran, a semiconductor designer, is incubating an unlikely product: shrimp.

Mr. Tran, who started Sky8 Shrimp Farm two years ago, is one of a growing number of small, high-tech shrimp farmers in America racing to meet the country’s seemingly insatiable appetite for scampi, without ravaging the environment, using harmful chemicals or depending on overseas suppliers accused of labor rights violations.

“To go on getting shrimp the way we have is wishful thinking,” said Mr. Tran, cupping several twitching, ready-to-ship scampi in his hand. His extended family in Vietnam engages in traditional coastal shrimp farming, the kind often linked to environmental, food safety and labor troubles. But at Sky8, shrimp mature in fiberglass tanks fitted with advanced recirculation, filtration and temperature control systems."

Hiroko Tabuchi reports for the New York Times July 2, 2014.