Crab fisheries arefisheries which capture orfarmcrabs. True crabs make up 20% of allcrustaceans caught and farmed worldwide, with about 1.4 milliontonnes being consumed annually. The horse crab,Portunus trituberculatus, accounts for one quarter of that total. Other important species include flower crabs (Portunus pelagicus), snow crabs (Chionoecetes), blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus), edible or brown crabs (Cancer pagurus),Dungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister), and mud crabs (Scylla serrata), each of which provides more than 20,000 tonnes annually.[1]
TheFAO groups fishery catches using the ISSCAAP classification (International Standard Statistical Classification of Aquatic Animals and Plants).[2] ISSCAAP has a group for crabs and sea-spiders, and another group forking crabs andsquat lobsters.
The following table summarises crab production from 2000 to 2008, both caught wild and from aquaculture, intonnes.[1][4]
| Commercial crab production in tonnes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Capture | 1,046,269 | 1,034,898 | 1,061,697 | 1,246,889 | 1,252,260 | 1,233,523 | 1,302,069 | 1,300,559 | 1,319,953 |
| Aquaculture | 125,501 | 145,130 | 171,979 | 167,533 | 178,838 | 195,995 | 198,258 | 231,065 | 240,781 |
| Total | 1,171,770 | 1,180,028 | 1,233,676 | 1,414,422 | 1,431,098 | 1,429,518 | 1,500,327 | 1,531,624 | 1,560,734 |
| Species | Description | Global catch in thousand tonnes reported by theFAO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Portunus trituberculatus
| Portunus trituberculatus, known as thehorse crab, known as thegazami crab orJapanese blue crab, is the most widelyfishedspecies ofcrab in the world, with over 300,000 tonnes being caught annually, 98% of it off the coast ofChina.[5] Horse crabs are found fromHokkaidō toSouth India, throughoutMaritime Southeast Asia and south toAustralia. InMalay, it is known asketam bunga or "flower crab". It lives on shallow sandy or muddy bottoms, less than 50 m deep, where it feeds onseaweeds andpredates upon small fish, worms andbivalves. Thecarapace may reach 15 cm (5.9 in) wide, and 7 cm (2+3⁄4 in) from front to back.
|  Portunus trituberculatus[5] | ||||
Portunus pelagicus
| Portunus pelagicus (known asflower crabs,blue crabs,blue swimmer crabs,blue manna crabs orsand crabs) is a large crab found in the intertidalestuaries of theIndian andPacific Oceans (Asian coasts) and theMiddle-Eastern coast of theMediterranean Sea. The nameflower crab is used in east Asian countries while the latter names are used in Australia. The crabs are widely distributed in eastern Africa,Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The carapace can be up to 20 cm wide. They stay buried under sand or mud most of the time, particularly during the daytime and winter. The species is commercially important throughout the Indo-Pacific where they may be sold as traditional hard shells, or as "soft shelled" crabs, which are considered a delicacy throughout Asia. The species is highly prized as the meat is almost as sweet as theblue crab, althoughP. pelagicus is physically much larger. |  Portunus pelagicus[6] | ||||
Chionoecetes
| Species ofChionoecetes (known asTanner Crabs,Snow Crabs,Spider Crabs, and other names) live in the cold waters of the northernPacific andAtlantic Ocean.[7] Snow crab are caught as far north as theArctic Ocean, fromNewfoundland toGreenland in theAtlantic Ocean, and across thePacific Ocean, including theSea of Japan, theBering Sea, theGulf of Alaska,Norton Sound, and even as far south asCalifornia forChionoecetes bairdi. Fishing for opilio (and rarely bairdi) crab has been the focus of the second half of all four seasons ofDeadliest Catch on theDiscovery Channel.[8] |  Chionoecetes opilio[9] | ||||
Callinectes sapidus
| TheChesapeake Bay, located inMaryland and Virginia, is famous for its "blue crabs",Callinectes sapidus. In 1993, the combined harvest of the blue crabs was valued at around 100 million U.S. dollars. Over the years the harvests of the blue crab dropped; in 2000, the combined harvest was around 45 million dollars. While blue crabs remain a popular food in the Chesapeake Bay area, the Bay is not capable of meeting local demand. Crabs are shipped into the region from North Carolina, Louisiana, Florida and Texas to supplement the local harvest. |  Callinectes sapidus[10] | ||||
Cancer pagurus
| Cancer pagurus, theedible crab orbrown crab, is a species found in theNorth Sea, NorthAtlantic and theMediterranean Sea. It is a robust crab of a reddish-brown colour, having an ovalcarapace with a characteristic "pie crust" edge and black tips to the claws.[11] Mature adults may have a carapace width of up to about 25 cm and weigh up to 3 kg. The edible crab is abundant throughout the northeast Atlantic as far asNorway in the north and northern Africa in the south, on mixed coarse grounds, mud and sand from shallow sublittoral to about 100 m. It is frequently found inhabiting cracks and holes in rocks but occasionally also in open areas. Smaller specimens may be found under rocks in thelittoral zone.[12] Edible crabs are exploited commercially throughout their range. It is illegal to catch crabs of too small a size around the coast of Britain, a conservation measure brought in the 1870s. Crabs with a shell diameter of less than 100 mm should not be taken. |  Cancer pagurus[13] | ||||
Metacarcinus magister
| TheDungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister) inhabitseelgrass beds and water bottoms from theAleutian Islands inAlaska toSanta Cruz, California.[14] Its binomial name,Cancer magister, simply means "master crab" inLatin. They measure as much as 25 cm (9.8 in) in some areas off the coast ofWashington, but typically are under 20 cm (7.9 in).[Note 2] They are a popular delicacy, and are the most commercially important crab in thePacific Northwest, as well as the western states generally.[15] They are named afterDungeness, Washington,[14] which is located approximately five miles north ofSequim and 15 miles east ofPort Angeles. The annual Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival[16] is held in Port Angeles each October. Dungeness crab have recently been found in theAtlantic Ocean, far from their known range, raising concern about their possible effects on the local wildlife.[17] |  Cancer magister[15] | ||||
Scylla serrata
| Scylla serrata (known asmud crab, or more ambiguously asmangrove crab orblack crab) is an economically important crabspecies found in theestuaries andmangroves ofAfrica,Australia andAsia. In their most common form, the shell colour varies from a deep, mottled green to very dark brown. Generally cooked with their shells on, when theymoult their shells, they can be served as a seafood delicacy, one of many types ofsoft shell crab. They are among the tastiest crab species and have a huge demand inSouth Asian countries where they are often bought alive in the markets. In the northern states ofAustralia and especiallyQueensland, mud crabs are relatively common and generally prized above other seafood within the general public. |  Scylla serrata[18] | ||||
Maja squinado
| Maja squinado (European spider crabs) are a species of migratory crabs found in the north-east Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. They are the subject of commercialfishery, with about 5,000 tonnes caught annually, 70% off the coast ofFrance, 10% off the coast of theUnited Kingdom, 6% from theChannel Islands, 3% from each ofSpain andIreland, 2% fromCroatia, 1% fromPortugal, and the remainder fromSerbia and Montenegro,Denmark andMorocco,[1] although official production figures are open to doubt.[19] TheEuropean Union imposes aminimum landing size of 120 mm forM. squinado,[20] and some individual countries have other regulations, such as a ban on landing egg-bearing females in Spain and a closed season in France and the Channel Islands.[19] | |||||
Cancer borealis  | Cancer borealis, known as theJonah crab, is a species of crab native to the east coast of North America from Newfoundland south to Florida, and thus found in waters ranging from subarctic to subtropical. It is found seasonally inshore on the continental shelf, moving to depths up to 750m in autumn. Once considered as bycatch tolobster fishing, it has become an emerging fishery with the catch increasing from about 900 tonnes in 2000 to about 6,000 tonnes in 2014.[21] Most are caught inNew England. In 2016,NOAA and theAtlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission established afisheries management plan for the species.[22] | |||||
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Part 1Archived November 13, 2005, at theWayback MachinePart 2Archived November 13, 2005, at theWayback MachinePrincipal commercialfishery species groups | ||||||||||||||||||||
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