Cuba boost freshwater lobster farming

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 2 (ACN) Cuba has begun intensive breeding of freshwater lobsters (Cherax quadricarinatus) in its central province of Santi Spiritus, as part of a program to diversify and create exportable items.

Pedro Plasencia Sosa, director of UCUISER company, told Cuban News Agency that the priority today is to boost the reproduction bank of the species also known as red claw, with high productive potential, essential in the project.
We have about 80 square meters of pools with reproducers and larvae," he said, "and from the latter will come out males and females to continue the reproductive cycle and lobsters that will be incorporated into the bait in the last quarter of this year.
The reproduction and development of larvae is carried out today in facilities that were used for other species," Plasencia Sosa said, "but an investment has already been approved in the first half of 2020 to create new pools and readapt others to consolidate the breeding of the crustacean.
According to Yosbany Álvarez López, a technician at the farm that is hosting the freshwater lobster project, they have all the qualified personnel to promote this productive innovation and the material resources that are essential for this purpose.
The province of Santiago de Cuba is today the national reference in freshwater lobster breeding, a crustacean native to northern Australia, where there is a tropical climate similar to Cuba's, ideal for the development of the species.