Indonesians and others have farmed shrimp for centuries, using traditional low-density methods. Indonesian brackish water ponds, called tambaks, can be traced back as far as the 15th century. They used small scale ponds for monoculture or polycultured with other species, such as milkfish, or in rotation with rice, using the rice paddies for shrimp cultures during the dry season, when no rice could be grown.[1] Such cultures often were in coastal areas or on river banks. Mangrove areas were favored because of their abundant natural shrimp.[2] Wild juvenile shrimp were trapped in ponds and reared on naturally occurring organisms in the water until they reached the desired size for harvesting.

Industrial shrimp farming can be traced to the 1930s, when Japanese agrarians spawned and cultivated Kuruma shrimp (Penaeus japonicus) for the first time. By the 1960s, a small industry had developed in Japan.[3]Taiwan[4] In Thailand, large-scale production expanded rapidly from 1985.[5] In South America, Ecuador pioneered shrimp farming, where it expanded dramatically from 1978.[6] Brazil had been active in shrimp farming since 1974, but trade boomed there only in the 1990s, making the country a major producer within a few years.[7] Today, there are marine shrimp farms in over fifty countries. Commercial shrimp farming began to grow rapidly in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Technological advances led to more intensive forms of farming, and growing market demand led to worldwide proliferation of shrimp farms, concentrated in tropical and subtropical regions. Growing consumer demand in the early 1980s coincided with faltering wild catches, creating a booming industry. was an early adopter and a major producer in the 1980s; its production collapsed beginning in 1988 due to poor management practices and disease