More than half the seafood eaten globally is now farmed. And yet for some, aquaculture conjures up images of escaped fish, crowded pens, antibiotics, and ocean pollution in Asia, where nearly 90 percent of today’s aquaculture takes place. Now some entrepreneurs are bringing aquaculture on land. In the process, many hope to find a sustainable solution to the growing demand for a low-input, clean source of protein.

One of them is Tracey Carrillo, an agronomy professor at New Mexico State University. Carrillo initially started producing chemical-free shrimp as part of an experiment to see if they could be fed with organic cottonseed protein, an underutilized part of the cotton crop. When he had an abundance of shrimp on his hands, eager locals lined up around the block.

“We’d send an email out to the college and the response was overwhelming,” he said. “[It was] the novelty of ‘Whoa, they’re growing fresh shrimp in the desert.’”

Carrillo’s shrimp are raised in a closed-loop system generally classified as a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS), which uses a beneficial and naturally occurring bacteria called biofloc to break down solids in the water. He helped to develop the system with the university’s Arrowhead Center technology incubator.

“It has taken us about four years to hone in on a system that we’re really happy with,” he said. “Any waste byproduct goes into a hydroponic system to fertilize vegetables.”

Aquaculture is the fastest-growing segment of the animal farming industry, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Global production has increased from 1.6 million tons of fish in 1960 to 66.6 million tons in 2012.

Yet much of the seafood grown in Asia and sold frozen in the U.S.—such as shrimp and tilapia—has been associated with unsustainable growing practices, such as high density pens, low-quality feed, and the use of antibiotics, which may contribute to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Shrimp is especially suspect, as recent investigations by The Guardian and Associated Press have shown that migrant workers from Burma and Cambodia have been trafficked to operate fishing boats and peel shrimp in processing facilities in Thailand. According to the AP, much of this shrimp was acquired by major U.S. supermarkets and restaurants, including Wal-Mart, Kroger, Whole Foods, Red Lobster, and Olive Garden.

Recirculating aquaculture systems on land could be a solution to many of these problems, as they can control what the fish eat, what they are exposed to, as well as their living conditions. That control will be needed if the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) follows through with its long-running plan to propose standards for organic farmed fish. They also allow more seafood production in the land-locked parts of the U.S. and they can also provide greater traceability.

Closed Systems, Big Business

“Recirculating aquaculture systems have the potential to revolutionize seafood production globally,” said Monica Jain, a seafood industry expert and the founder of Fish 2.0, an annual competition for sustainable seafood startups held in Silicon Valley where Carrillo competed recently.

Shortly after launching New Mexico Shrimp Company, Carrillo set up a second shrimp farm nearby, and sold a license to a couple that was interested in operating a franchise in Boston. Startup costs, Carrillo says, are between $60,000 to $100,000.

He hopes to establish franchises next in Denver, Dallas, Scottsdale, and Albuquerque. Buyers will receive a package that includes tracking software and technical support from the New Mexico Shrimp Company that will draw upon three years of farming data. The company will retain two percent of the licensed facilities’ gross profits every year.