‘Crabs toes’ no longer sustainable claim
John Rafferty
Anyone living along or visiting the coast will remember from childhood, the pleasures and taste of eating what we call ‘crabs toes’ − a delicacy once tasted will leave you addicted for life. At present there is a thriving crab claw industry in Irish and UK waters as the demand and price soars to an all-time high, but for how much longer?
Brown crabs in a creel. Photo John Rafferty
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) in the UK has called for the deliberate removal of live crab claws to be banned. They have made this call on the basis that whilst crabs can regenerate their limbs and the fishery industry therefore considers the practice sustainable, de-clawing is likely to cause the crabs to starve to death, and that little protection was being given to the marine environment.
Calum Duncan, a spokesman for MCS said that although removing claws was legal, it was both cruel and unsustainable.
“Since claws can be regenerated some view the practice of claw removal as sustainable; however, only large crabs are fished for their claws and these grow slowly and moult infrequently, so inevitably these crabs starve before their claws can regenerate. We would therefore like to see the practice of landing crab claws only outlawed.”
Low survival rate
A recent study by Prof Robert Elwood at Queens University in Belfast showed that de-clawing was unsustainable as crabs that had their claws physically removed were much less likely to survive than if the claws were naturally shed.
In the study, crabs with one claw removed showed a greater physiological stress response than crabs allowed to shed a claw naturally. Of the 28 crabs that had one claw removed, five died, whereas no crabs died after shedding their claws naturally.
“There is a suggestion that the practice makes the fishery sustainable but the data on mortality would put this into doubt,” Prof Elwood added.
At present, Irish fishermen continue to land crab claws, many of which coming from poor quality and undersize crabs, and many more are being de-clawed than the law allows.
Law change sought
Current legislation prohibits the landing of crab claws that exceed 1% of the weight of whole crabs.
Some fishermen now believe that a more rational approach should be taken whereby the practice of de-clawing should be banned and then processors would have to buy the whole crab instead of just the claws.
Figures show that a total of 482 tonnes of crab claws were landed in 2000; today however it is widely believed that the true figure landed is several times higher and undoubtedly has a destructive effect on the stocks on one of Ireland’s most important fisheries.
