The Hydroelectric Generation Enterprise (EgeHID) announces it has released more than 200,000 fish into the waters of the Jigüey Dam in San Cristóbal. Included are 60 fish that were ready to spawn.
EgeHID reports that the release is part of an ambitious social responsibility program started by the agency in all of the country’s dams. General administrator of EgeHID Rafael Salazar explains in a press release that the plan is to considerably increase freshwater fish production. Engineer Salazar says the Presidency is promoting the programs to develop rural communities.
The program is under the responsibility of the Forestry Promotion Management of the Environmental Management Division of EGEHID. The species of fishes being released are the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.), common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and and mirror carp (Cyprinus carpio).
As reported in The Healthy Fish website, the Nile tilapia fish has a delicious mild taste and nutritional benefits (high protein and low fat). Its popularity in the United States has surged over the past 20 years to the point it has become the fourth most eaten seafood in USA (after shrimp, salmon and tuna).
The manager of Forestry Development, Ramón Casilla, on behalf of the director of Environmental Management of EgeHID, General Radhamés Lora Salcedo, calls on the area fishermen’s associations to develop a sustainable plan that would allow them to maintain constant production to ensure they can earn a regular living for their families.
The mother fish are farmed in the Hatillo Dam, in Cotuí municipality. From there the fish are taken to the other dams in the country. EgeHID explains this is the largest system of sexing, reproduction, breeding and settling of fish in the Caribbean region, with nine reservoirs with a capacity of 2,800 to 5,000 cubic meters and 25 pools.
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EgeHID
The Healthy Fish
22 September 2020