In order to know if the cultivation of pleasure oyster can be profitable in the Ensenada de La Pazthe cooperative Ashy Mangrove began planting 100 thousand seeds of this variety of bivalve mollusk.

Guillermo Méndez Camacho said that for this research project, the fishermen are receiving the support of NOS Sustainable Northwest and the oyster company Blue Sun.

"Last Tuesday, the 6th, we received 100 thousand oyster seeds, a seed has a size of approximately 2 millimeters. The Crassostrea corteziensis, they call it the pleasure oyster, is a species that is not commercialized here and is the one with which we are initiating a research project", explained the representative of Mangle Cenizo.

He detailed that while NOS provides financial support for this research project, Blue Sun donated 20,000 of the 100,000 oyster seeds.

"We have just finished sowing in the pre-fattening, after the pre-fattening there will be an unfolding after 15 days and after this unfolding there will be a sieving, we will sieve all the seeds in a 9 millimeters sieve and each animal that contains this sieve will pass to 4 millimeters sacks that we will take to beds, with the French technique, or we will pass it to the waterline in the suspended sack technique," he said.

A process that will last at least one year

Guillermo Méndez Camacho estimates that it will take them 12 to 14 months to bring the oyster seed that have just been planted until they reach commercial size.

"There are 100,000 seeds. As it is a research project, we must start with little, we have to take it to harvest and commercialization, to demonstrate that it will be a viable and profitable project, that is precisely the objective, that it is viable to be able to start at a higher scale," he stressed.

Once they have the results of this pilot project and it is proven that it can be profitable, he commented that they will take all the information to OPRE so that this organization can replicate it on a larger scale.

Although the cooperative Ashy Mangrove is independent of OPRE, its members are within the same organization, he clarified.

For a diversification of species

Currently, the distinctive activity of the Ensenada de La Paz is the cultivation of ax callusbut the idea is to develop more alternatives, such as in this case the pleasure oysterwith Mangle Cenizo, and the Japanese oyster, which is a project spearheaded by The Guardians of the Conchalito.

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Méndez Camacho said that they have plans to add in the future alternatives such as the cultivation of chocolate and Catarina clams, which is the one that was exploited for many years in this body of water until it ran out.

The plan is to open up the range of species and be productive, while maintaining the restoration actions of the Ensenada de La Pazhe stressed.