Female crab stock shrinking – BFAR

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) is appealing to the public not to consume female crabs to enable them to reproduce and increase the national stock.

BFAR director Asis Perez said there has been a slight decline in the production of mud crabs (Syclla serrata) in the past three quarters.

Produced in the fourth quarter of 2012 were 6,357 metric tons (MT), falling to 3, 839 MT in the first quarter of 2013 and further to 3,462 MT in the second quarter.

“An adult female crab in its full reproductive cycle can produce at least three million crablets which in turn could produce millions more when they mature,” Perez said.

The BFAR is instead  encouraging consumers to patronize male crabs which can be differentiated from females through pointier flaps or aprons. Mature females have broader aprons.

Crabs that are called “bakla” by vendors are actually juvenile female crabs and should also not be patronized. These have flaps that are narrower than adult females, but broader than males.

The BFAR is widening the scope of the National Stock Assessment Program (NSAP) to assess the population of key species.

According to Perez, “The NSAP has been instrumental for previous successes like the implementation of  the sardine closed season in the Visayas and Zamboanga waters because it has provided us scientific findings which became the basis of our management plans.”

Only 20 percent of the country’s major fishing areas has been placed  under NSAP.

BFAR, through its research arm, the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI), is eyeing the inclusion of more bays and gulfs in the program.