Photos’ credit: Walid Salah El Din (Egypt)
Review: Walid Salah El Din and Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)
The photos have been photographed in a commercial fish farm in Tangier region (Morocco). The farm imported Red claw crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus, in 2002. The area dedicated for fish farming is about 28 hectares, on which finfish (mainly tilapia) and crayfish are farmed. The collection of water from rainfall is the main source of water.
In regard to the red claw crayfish, the farm imported the crayfish from Australia in 2002. Since then, the natural reproduction and nursing take place on the farm. In the beginning, crayfish was fed on farm-made ration before being fed on extruded 30% protein sinking pellets produced in a feed mill which belongs to the farm.
The crayfish are harvested upon reach an average weight of about 50g. Harvesting of the crayfish in the farm is relatively a simple process and depends of the strong response of the crayfish to flowing water and hence simple flow-traps are used in the harvest. The total crayfish production increased from 2 tons in 2004 to 8 tons in 2006 while the target production far exceeds the current production which is marketed in Morocco or abroad.
