Review of prospects for lobster farming

Capture fisheries have reached a peak in production, and stock enhancement or aquaculture appears to be the only hope of meeting the ever increasing demand for high value seafood like lobsters. For aquaculture, the pressing need is to solve the dilemma of promoting expansion while at the same time demanding the development of environmentally sound technologies and farming practices (Mace, 1997). Lobsters have excellent market demand and price and especially live lobsters are the most preferred. Customers in affluent countries are ready to pay more for fresh seafood. Lobsters are exported in different forms; live, frozen tails, whole frozen, whole-chilled, wholecooked and frozen and as lobster meat. The live lobster trade increased from 1.3 % during 1993-94 to 12.7% during 2003- 04 period