Armenia plans to spend 819 million AMD (US$2.1m) to build nine crayfish farms over the next three years.

Some of the money will compensate investors by up to 50% according to a draft poject proposed by the Ministry of Economy.

Crayfish were introduced to Lake Sevan some thirty years ago, but overfishing has seen a sharp decline in their numbers. How the lake’s ecology has been impacted is little studied. Economic interests have outweighed such concerns.

The Ministry of Economy claims the new crayfish farms will produce annual revenues of 1.6 billion AMD ($4.1m).