Marine shrimp farming (cultivation of sea shrimp) has enormous socioeconomic importance in Northeastern Brazil, since this region concentrates 98% of shrimp production in Brazil. However, this activity has been suffering from low productivity and loss of competitiveness of current cultivation systems. This article aimed to perform a comparative analysis between the economic efficiency and competitiveness of sea shrimp crops in the semi-intensive (traditional) and super-intensive (water reuse and biofloc use - BFT) system used in Brazil. A comparison was made between the indicators of economic efficiency and competitiveness in each of the sea shrimp farming systems studied. The data needed to carry out this comparative analysis were collected through bibliographic surveys from secondary sources. The results obtained demonstrate that sea shrimp farming in the water reuse and BFT system is, in terms of economic parameters, more efficient and competitive than farming in the semi-intensive (traditional) system. The conclusions of this work allow us to deepen the discussions on the modernization of Brazilian shrimp farming by intensifying these crops. It is necessary that the studies bring to light the adoption of technological innovations that provide an improvement in the efficiency and competitiveness of Brazilian aquaculture and that they are encouraged. The originality of this work lies in this foundation.