Japanese Experts Involved in Aquaculture Project in Cuba

Cienfuegos, Cuba, Sep 12. -Japanese experts are providing advice for an aquaculture development project in the town of Santa Cruz del Sur in the central province of Camaguey.Sakaki Masanosuke, an official of the Rural Development Department of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, told Prensa Latina it is a five-year program that will last until May 2013.

The project is aimed at joint research with Cuban technicians for the intensive development of two fish of great commercial and gastronomic value, the red snapper and the sea bass.

Masanosuke said that though the project is mainly for research purposes, the two fish are now being produced in ponds in Santa Cruz, where the project is housed in a laboratory originally used for intensive shrimp breeding.

Japanese experts are also providing technical advice for a program on genetically modify rice seeds to be planted by Cuban farmers, covering Cubaâ�Ös five central provinces of Cienfuegos, Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus, Ciego de Avila and Camaguey.