In the past, farming of the European lobster in land-based systems has turned out to be difficult. The
ideal system for rearing lobsters individually should be relatively inexpensive to construct and operate,
simple to maintain, based on automatic feeding and self-cleaning of tank and cages, maintain ideal water
quality conditions, use space in three dimensions, enable high densities, conserve water at high temperatures,
ensure good survival and permit easy access to the livestock for inspection and feeding. Several
attempts have been made to mass-produce these cannibalistic crustaceans under controlled environments.
However, none of the many previous attempts have proved to be successful in incorporating all
of these features into a single design. Thus, the development of land-based lobster farming has been
severely hampered by lack of suitable technology and production methods. The major constraints have
been the need for individual rearing cages to avoid cannibalism, need of heated water, lack of high quality
dry food, high labor costs, inadequate technological solutions and high investment costs.