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I toured a farm that ethically harvests shrimp and it taught me how gross seafood production is. Here's a look inside.

I toured a farm that ethically harvests shrimp and it taught me how gross seafood production is. Here's a look inside.

Kaila Yu

Writer Kaila Yu visited a shrimp farm in LA to learn about shrimp harvesting practices.Kaila Yu/Insider

I visited a sustainable shrimp farm called TransparentSea in Los Angeles, California.
Inside, the warehouse was filled with tanks for the shrimps' various stages of growth.

Shrimp is the most consumed seafood in the US, but some shrimp companies are less than transparent about their supply chains — and some have even been tied to slave labor practices outside of the country.

The seafood display in a Publix in Florida. Joey Hadden/Insider

Sources: NOAA Fisheries, The Washington Post, The Guardian

The seafood industry also contributes heavily to ocean and waterway pollution across the globe as well as the decline in mangroves.

Fishing boats moored at the Huangsha Port in Sheyang, Yancheng City, in eastern Jiangsu Province, China, May 4, 2021. Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Source: The New York Times

Mangroves act as buffers against storms and are the home to wildlife like fish, reptiles, mollusks, crabs, and more, but they're often destroyed and cleared to make way for ponds for shrimp production.

Kiyoshi Hijiki/Getty Images

Source: World Wildlife

'Bycatch,' the marine life accidentally caught during commercial fishing like dolphins, rays, and turtles, is also an issue — almost 2 billion pounds of it is thrown away by US commercial fishermen each year.

Subsea cables need to be buried to protect them trawler nets like this one. Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images

Source: World Wildlife, NPR

An urban shrimp farm in Los Angeles, TransparentSea, is trying to change all of that by producing local, ethically harvested shrimp.

Kaila Yu/Insider

Source: TransparentSea

I visited the farm, which was opened in 2020 and is located in a commercial warehouse in Downey, California.

Kaila Yu/Insider

The 18,000-square-foot warehouse produces over 500 pounds of shrimp a week, according to the farm's founder Steve Sutton.

Kaila Yu/Insider

They farm indigo-toned prawns, which are never frozen and sold fresh to local restaurants and customers at the Santa Monica Farmers Market.

Kaila Yu/Insider

TransparentSea's president and founder, Steve Sutton, is an aquaculture scientist.

Kaila Yu/Insider

He and his engineering partner Douglas Ernst designed most of the systems used at the farm using aquarium technologies to filter and recycle the water supply.

Kaila Yu/Insider

The extensive filtration system keeps the water clean and filtered, a step many shrimp farms skip, which Sutton said results in shrimp living in their own waste and being unhealthy.

Kaila Yu/Insider

I sampled some of TransparentSea's shrimp myself, which tasted great raw. It tasted nothing like the mushy and watery shrimp I've bought at the grocery store, much of which is chemically treated.

Writer Kaila Yu visited a shrimp farm in LA to learn about shrimp harvesting practices first-hand. Kaila Yu/Insider

Source: The New York Times

Sutton told me it's OK to eat their shrimp raw the same day it's harvested because it's fresh and untreated. They don't add any pesticides, antibiotics, or hormones in the growing process, and no preservatives during or after harvest.

Kaila Yu/Insider

Inside the warehouse, this tank houses the 2-week-old baby shrimp that TransparentSea buys from a hatchery in Florida.

Kaila Yu/Insider

For 3 to 4 weeks, the baby shrimp live in this first tank and are fed fish meal pellets to grow healthy and strong.

Kaila Yu/Insider

Next, the shrimp are moved to a second, larger tank where they grow for 8 to 9 more weeks until they reach about one ounce in size and are ready to be harvested.

Kaila Yu/Insider

These shrimp are a couple of weeks from harvest and will head directly to a customer afterward.

Kaila Yu/Insider

The growing shrimp are fed small pellets, purchased from a US vendor, that are made of fish parts, fish oil, and some plant protein and starches.

Kaila Yu/Insider

The shrimp are harvested every Tuesday and Friday and reap about 300 to 400 pounds per batch.

Kaila Yu/Insider

To harvest, one or two of the three aquaculture technicians throws on a wetsuit to jump in the tank and wind a giant net around the tank to trap the shrimp.

Kaila Yu/Insider

Before sorting, the shrimp are killed in cold water and die within a minute, which Sutton said is the most humane method and the best way to preserve quality.

Kaila Yu/Insider

While many farms dump the shrimp into a bath of chemicals before the ice water, TransparentSea avoids any chemical treatment.

Kaila Yu/Insider

Source: The New York Times

Next, the shrimp are transferred to the sorting room and sorted by size.

Kaila Yu/Insider

They're out on the table for no more than 20 minutes before going on ice and heading out for delivery.

Kaila Yu/Insider

Sutton said the average shrimp changes hands 7 to 8 times and is frozen and thawed 2 to 3 times before reaching the consumer, so beyond not being fresh, the texture and taste is deteriorated.

Kaila Yu/Insider

Since TransparentSea sorts all of their shrimp by hand, unlike other factories that sort by machine, they can offer a unique product — soft shell shrimp. This shrimp is extremely delicate and can be eaten without peeling the shell.

Kaila Yu/Insider

By 11 a.m. on harvest days, the shrimp goes out for delivery, 70 to 75% of which goes to local restaurants.

Transparent Sea farm technician Diego Lopez heading out for deliveries. Kaila Yu/Insider

They don't use distributors because it's common for dishonest distributors to substitute inferior products, Sutton said.

Kaila Yu/Insider

Source: The Fish Site

This summer, TransparentSea plans to open part of the warehouse as a storefront and launch 'shrimp fishing' to the public, a fun activity that's popular in Asia.

Kaila Yu/Insider

Source: The Next Somewhere

My visit to the shrimp farm was an eye-opening experience and changed the way that I look at all seafood. It also made me decide to stop purchasing fish and shrimp from the supermarket, and support local distributors and fresh farmers' markets instead.

Kaila Yu/Insider

I toured a farm that ethically harvests shrimp and it taught me how gross seafood production is. Here's a look inside.

Kaila Yu

Shrimp is the most consumed seafood in the US, but some shrimp companies are less than transparent about their supply chains — and some have even been tied to slave labor practices outside of the country.

The seafood industry also contributes heavily to ocean and waterway pollution across the globe as well as the decline in mangroves.

Mangroves act as buffers against storms and are the home to wildlife like fish, reptiles, mollusks, crabs, and more, but they're often destroyed and cleared to make way for ponds for shrimp production.

'Bycatch,' the marine life accidentally caught during commercial fishing like dolphins, rays, and turtles, is also an issue — almost 2 billion pounds of it is thrown away by US commercial fishermen each year.

An urban shrimp farm in Los Angeles, TransparentSea, is trying to change all of that by producing local, ethically harvested shrimp.

I visited the farm, which was opened in 2020 and is located in a commercial warehouse in Downey, California.

The 18,000-square-foot warehouse produces over 500 pounds of shrimp a week, according to the farm's founder Steve Sutton.

They farm indigo-toned prawns, which are never frozen and sold fresh to local restaurants and customers at the Santa Monica Farmers Market.

TransparentSea's president and founder, Steve Sutton, is an aquaculture scientist.

He and his engineering partner Douglas Ernst designed most of the systems used at the farm using aquarium technologies to filter and recycle the water supply.

The extensive filtration system keeps the water clean and filtered, a step many shrimp farms skip, which Sutton said results in shrimp living in their own waste and being unhealthy.

I sampled some of TransparentSea's shrimp myself, which tasted great raw. It tasted nothing like the mushy and watery shrimp I've bought at the grocery store, much of which is chemically treated.

Sutton told me it's OK to eat their shrimp raw the same day it's harvested because it's fresh and untreated. They don't add any pesticides, antibiotics, or hormones in the growing process, and no preservatives during or after harvest.

Inside the warehouse, this tank houses the 2-week-old baby shrimp that TransparentSea buys from a hatchery in Florida.

For 3 to 4 weeks, the baby shrimp live in this first tank and are fed fish meal pellets to grow healthy and strong.

Next, the shrimp are moved to a second, larger tank where they grow for 8 to 9 more weeks until they reach about one ounce in size and are ready to be harvested.

These shrimp are a couple of weeks from harvest and will head directly to a customer afterward.

The growing shrimp are fed small pellets, purchased from a US vendor, that are made of fish parts, fish oil, and some plant protein and starches.

The shrimp are harvested every Tuesday and Friday and reap about 300 to 400 pounds per batch.

To harvest, one or two of the three aquaculture technicians throws on a wetsuit to jump in the tank and wind a giant net around the tank to trap the shrimp.

Before sorting, the shrimp are killed in cold water and die within a minute, which Sutton said is the most humane method and the best way to preserve quality.

While many farms dump the shrimp into a bath of chemicals before the ice water, TransparentSea avoids any chemical treatment.

Next, the shrimp are transferred to the sorting room and sorted by size.

They're out on the table for no more than 20 minutes before going on ice and heading out for delivery.

Sutton said the average shrimp changes hands 7 to 8 times and is frozen and thawed 2 to 3 times before reaching the consumer, so beyond not being fresh, the texture and taste is deteriorated.

Since TransparentSea sorts all of their shrimp by hand, unlike other factories that sort by machine, they can offer a unique product — soft shell shrimp. This shrimp is extremely delicate and can be eaten without peeling the shell.

By 11 a.m. on harvest days, the shrimp goes out for delivery, 70 to 75% of which goes to local restaurants.

They don't use distributors because it's common for dishonest distributors to substitute inferior products, Sutton said.

This summer, TransparentSea plans to open part of the warehouse as a storefront and launch 'shrimp fishing' to the public, a fun activity that's popular in Asia.

My visit to the shrimp farm was an eye-opening experience and changed the way that I look at all seafood. It also made me decide to stop purchasing fish and shrimp from the supermarket, and support local distributors and fresh farmers' markets instead.

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