WUHAN, June 16 (Xinhua) -- An international crayfish festival kicked off Saturday in the city of Qianjiang, in central China's Hubei Province, attracting more than 200 enterprises from home and abroad.

The event includes investment activities, crayfish-related seminars and meetings on e-commerce of aquatic products.

During the opening ceremony, Qianjiang Crayfish Cook School signed a strategic agreement with the Canada Achieve Group to send Qianjiang talent in areas of crayfish cooking and marketing to Canada.

"Crayfish, as one of the most popular foods in China, will certainly be loved by many local residents in Canada," said Tony Elenis, president of the Ontario Restaurants Hotel and Motel Association.

Native to North America, crayfish were brought to eastern China's Jiangsu Province by a Japanese merchant in the 1920s or 1930s. They appeared on the plain in central China about 30 years ago, and villagers found the shellfish tasty and turned them into big business.

As more people warm to crayfish, the provincial government of Hubei has expressed its support to the development of the Qianjiang crayfish industry.

According to Wu Zuyun, Communist Party chief of Qianjiang, the city exported 150 million U.S. dollars worth of crayfish in 2018. Related industries created 150,000 jobs and helped 20,000 people get rid of poverty.