Crab processors to do crab reseeding in Guiuan town

BORONGAN, Eastern Samar, May 28 (PIA)--To ensure that a steady and sustainable supply of crab meat is met, some crab processors based in Manila will do crab reseeding in Guiuan town on May 31, 2011.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Faustino Galang of RGE Agridev Corporation said that the decline of annual catch of blue swimming crab is alarming .

Blue swimming crab fisheries in the Philippines seem unable to cope with the rapid escalation in demand for its meat.

Measures to improve this fishery has been set in motion by various cooperating groups.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-Guiuan Marine Fisheries Development Center (BFAR-GMFDC) and the Philippine Association of Crab Processors, Inc. (PACPI) have collaborated to do a hatchery production trial, early this year.

After a series of trials, blue swimming crabs were finally produced successfully in the hatchery. The young crabs are kept and fed in a pond until they stand a higher chance of survival when released to the sea.

This is an important step towards blue swimming crab sustainability, which will potentially benefit all crab business stakeholders; and a first of its kind in the Philippines and in Guiuan, Eastern Samar.