Because marine shrimp species convenient for aquacultural purposes live mainly in warm-water environments, commercial shrimp farms are located principally along tropical and sub-tropical marine coastlines. Other than the South-East Asiatic countries, the Latin America countries are important shrimp producers that contribute in satisfying the international demand of marine shrimp. Part of the imported shrimp in Italy comes from Guatemala, where the shrimp aquaculture (representing around the 88% of the total aquaculture production) is based mainly on the Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei). Common rearing procedures of one of the biggest marine shrimp farms operating in Guatemala are described. Some productive parameters of Penaeus vannamei brought out by semi-intensive system in earthen ponds are quantified. Productive data result in a uniform distribution of weight classes at different days after stocking, besides the growth trend and feed conversion ratio agree with the growth performance of Penaeus vannamei. Growth data, fitted on the von Bertalanffy model, present the maximum weight gain (0.13 g/day) 28 days after stocking. Shrimp survival after a grow-out period of 80 days in a 2.44-ha pond is around 56% and the gross yield turns out to be more than one ton per hectare. In conclusion, semi-intensive shrimp farming performed in Guatemala allows to have high productivities as well as a good quality product. On the other hand it must be highlighted that this kind of cultivation represents a risk for the environmental equilibrium along the coasts of tropical countries.