Large king crabs are increasingly scarce.

According to Lao Dong, recently, in Ho Chi Minh City, many locations and stores have appeared selling king crabs with small sizes and weights of 100-150 grams/crab and priced from 800,000 VND/kg, about half the price of large king crabs.

Mr. Duong Van Hoan - owner of an imported seafood store on Pham Van Dong Street (Thu Duc City) - said that consuming king crabs that are too small will affect herd restoration and aquatic resources.

Currently, countries around the world such as Japan, EU, UK… all have regulations on exploitation size to catch at a moderate level, protect and maintain reserves for the following years.

“Overexploitation will significantly reduce the number of large crabs. In Vietnam, the king crabs at my store are usually imported from Phu Quy Island (Binh Thuan). This year, this type of crab is also scarce, so the output of fishermen has decreased sharply,” Mr. Hoan shared.

Small king crabs are sold in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ngoc Le

As a native of Binh Thuan, currently working in Ho Chi Minh City, Ms. Tran Phuong Ngan expressed: "King crab is a famous specialty of Phu Quy, but exploiting and selling small crabs will destroy them. I always remind my family to choose king crabs of standard size to catch, both to have high income and to protect this typical seafood species."

Regarding exploitation, a leader of the professional department of Binh Thuan Fisheries Sub-Department said that according to Decree 37/2024/ND-CP, for king crabs, the minimum shell size allowed to be exploited is from 10cm or more. The standard weight of king crabs allowed to be caught is about 300 grams/crab.

However, nowadays, customer demand is high, so some fishermen have caught small crabs from 100-200 grams, crabs carrying eggs, making crabs weighing from 0.5 grams to 1 kg increasingly rare.

According to the Department of Fisheries Control - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, regulating the minimum size allowed for exploitation of aquatic species living in natural waters is very necessary and suitable in current practice. Because marine resources in our country have been declining in both quantity and quality over the past many years.

The main cause of resource depletion is identified as overexploitation, especially invasive exploitation of juvenile and small-sized aquatic species, which account for a high proportion of the exploited output.

To prevent this situation, the authorities will handle and severely punish acts of exploiting aquatic resources in violation of regulations on protecting aquatic resources; exploiting, trading, and transporting endangered, precious, and rare aquatic products; smuggling, illegally transporting aquatic products, and using fraudulent tricks to buy and sell aquatic products...

Source: https://laodong.vn/kinh-doanh/cua-huynh-de-kich-thuoc-lon-ngay-cang-khan-hiem-1365652.ldo