Provincial fisheries officials have said the development of crab banks in community fisheries has gradually boosted marine crab output.
Crab banks are where pregnant crabs are stored until their attached eggs hatch. Members of fisheries communities who catch pregnant crabs are obliged to sell them to the crab banks. Once hatched, the zoea larvae are released back into the sea.
Preah Sihanouk provincial Fisheries Administration director Em Phea told The Post that an average of 50kg of pregnant crabs are released into the province’s eight active crab banks.
Each boat of crab bank members brings in three pregnant crabs per day on average, he said, noting that there are 60 there now.
“We take the female crabs with eggs so that they may disperse their larvae, and then we release them back to the sea to ensure that fisheries yields do not fall down the line,” Chhay said.
The crab bank system has been in play since 2008 and is implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ Fisheries Administration and a number of NGO partners.
According to Sorin, there are nearly 30 active crab banks in the four coastal provinces – Kampot, Kep, Preah Sihanouk and Koh Kong.
Cambodia exported a total of 1,730 tonnes of fisheries products in the first nine months of this year, down more than 84 per cent year-on-year from 10,980 tonnes, ministry figures show.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/crab-banks-buoy-marine-fisheries-yields