Crayfish is regarded as the curse of China and the Savior of Egypt
Sihaiwang: how many Chinese people can think that this delicious crayfish can also be taken from the far bank of the Nile, and it will take no more than 36 hours to reach the Chinese table.
From 'Nile cockroach' to 'numbness'
Dozens of crayfish with an average weight of about 40g were killed by Egyptian fisherman Ye Haiya & middot on a summer morning in minuf Province, Egypt; Abdullah poured into the white shrimp basket in his yard.
'before the Chinese came, I didn't know what to do & lsquo; Deal with & rsquo; So many wild crayfish. " Ye Haiya, 40, skillfully holds the fresh crayfish just caught from the river and still waving claws. As one of nearly 50000 shrimp fishermen in the Nile basin, he admitted that he was not optimistic about crayfish at first.
Crayfish were first found in the Nile Valley in Egypt in the 1990s. However, they were soon labeled as invasive species because of their amazing fecundity and destructive power.
"Crayfish swallowed fry and destroyed fishing nets, which caused great trouble to the fishery production in Egypt at that time. Fishermen have always called for their complete elimination." Magdi & middot, a professor at the school of science of einshams University, who has just finished a special lecture on crayfish; Khalil recalled to reporters that crayfish was notorious in Egypt at that time. It was not only a 'Nile cockroach' in the mouth of fishermen, but also a great enemy of the ecological environment in the eyes of fishery experts.
Through several years of observation and comparative research, experts and scholars such as Khalil gradually found that compared with crayfish in North America and other regions, wild crayfish in Egypt has larger body size and richer production, and its gills also appear as cleaner 'white gills', and these excellent indicators have gradually attracted the attention of foreign investors.
In 2015, Han Dong, chairman of a catering enterprise in Beijing, built his crayfish production base in the city of Ramadan, about an hour's drive from the capital Cairo. Previously, in order to find crayfish with large amount, good quality and able to reduce the overall production cost for the restaurant's main "numb", he and his team have been running for several years, covering dozens of countries, and finally settled down on the Bank of the Nile. So far, the investment has reached about 100 million yuan.
"The Chinese are the first foreign investors of Egyptian crayfish." Professor Khalil said that with the development and utilization of Nile crayfish resources by Chinese food enterprises, crayfish, which was regarded as a curse by Egyptian fishermen, has gradually become a source of income for coastal fishermen. According to rough statistics, the average annual income of a fisherman with the smallest shrimp catch in the Nile basin can also reach about 50000 angstrom pounds (equivalent to about 20000 yuan).
'China speed' ensures freshness and delicious
"In order to ensure the freshness of wild crayfish, we strictly control the total time from fishing to transportation back to China within 36 hours." Han Dong told reporters that he invited Han Xu, head of the company's Egyptian business department, to take the reporter to experience this' China speed 'on the spot.
During the shrimp season from April to September every year, at 5 a.m., Egyptian fishermen like Yahya will take out the special shrimp net placed in the river, dump, sort and weigh it, and then move it to a special truck to collect shrimp.
At 9 a.m., shrimp collection trucks from all over the country successively arrived at the gate of the factory. Employees in blue professional work clothes quickly dumped crayfish on the production line and began to weigh and sort according to different gram standards. Some senior employees can accurately judge the weight of shrimp by hand. After being confirmed by the electronic scale, they quickly sorted them into baskets of different colors, and the whole process is smooth and efficient.
Through the sorting area, three large production lines integrating cleaning, frying, drying and packaging come into view. On the production line, tens of thousands of wild crayfish show a very uniform orange red after being cooked at high temperature, and workers in white and lemon yellow uniforms shuttle through it to control temperature and inspect quality. The scene is very spectacular.
"According to the production demand, we spent three or four years designing and researching this set of production equipment ourselves." Han Xu said that the processing of crayfish should go through multiple links such as primary washing, high-pressure spraying, secondary cleaning, high-temperature frying and liquid nitrogen rapid freezing. A mature, safe and standardized production system can ensure the taste of finished shrimp.
At 5 p.m., the packaged finished shrimps were loaded to the airport, and then loaded into the aircraft with reserved exclusive positions in advance. With the roar of the engine when taking off in the early morning, they flew to Beijing and other Chinese cities. After more than ten hours of flight, the successfully arrived goods were sent from the airport to various stores, cooked by the chefs and served to the table.
After a journey of no more than 36 hours, a wild 'foreign' crayfish smoothly entered the mouth of Chinese diners in laughter.
"Shrimp catching army" benefits from Chinese technology
"It's the peak season for crayfish. The factory is producing the rest 22 hours a day except for 2 hours of disinfection." Han Xu said that about 300 workers in the factory will 'work in two shifts' in the peak season, which is the only way to ensure supply.
From fishing nets to gloves, from shrimp catching technology to aquatic knowledge, ye Haiya and his family got it for free from Chinese crayfish investors. In continuous learning and operation, fishermen like Ye Haiya continued to teach shrimp catching skills to other villagers, and a 'shrimp catching army' was soon established in the Nile basin. According to Ye Haiya's estimation, a large centralized shrimp collection point like him can provide about 3 tons of crayfish a day.
It is not just fishermen and factory workers who benefit. According to reports, a local manufacturer of foam packaging boxes in Egypt has rapidly expanded from 1 machines and two workers to two factories, 14 machines and more than ten employees in the past two years.
In order to achieve sustainable development, Professor Khalil is formulating relevant laws and regulations on crayfish fishing with the guidance and help of Egyptian Fisheries Department and Chinese staff. Professor Khalil said that there will be detailed regulations on shrimp size, color and weight, fishing season and transportation mode. " Everyone hopes to maintain the healthy development of the crayfish industry, because it will benefit everyone. "
"Chinese people are characterized by diligence, wisdom and honesty. I hope our cooperation with China will never stop." Ye Haiya said with expectation. （