At midnight, using flashlights to catch crabs.

In Thua Thien - Hue , in the evening, people in coastal communes of Quang Dien district, Hue City, take flashlights to catch crabs to eat or sell to restaurants.

In August, as dusk falls, 34-year-old Ho Van Bach from Hai Duong commune, Hue City, and his group of friends go to the beach to catch sand crabs. To reach the beach, he has to climb over a steep sand dune more than 70 meters high and over a kilometer long.

Mr. Bach used a flashlight to catch crabs along the beach at night. Photo: Vo Thanh — Mr. Bach used a flashlight to catch crabs along the beach at night. Photo: *Vo Thanh*

With headlamps on their heads and plastic buckets in hand, Bach and his friends walked along the beach, shining their lights to catch crabs on the sand. Seeing the flashlight beams, the crabs scattered towards the water's edge to hide in the sand. Targeting the largest one, Bach used his hand to press the crab down into the sand to prevent it from pinching him, then caught it and put it into the plastic bucket. In just over an hour, the group had walked more than 4 kilometers along the beach, their catch filling half a plastic bucket with crabs.

The crab resembles the three-spotted crab found in the South. Photo: Vo Thanh — The crab resembles the three-spotted crab found in the South. Photo: *Vo Thanh*

Bách said that people in his hometown also often set traps and wait for crabs to fall into the nets. However, he and his group of friends still prefer shining flashlights and chasing crabs on the sandy beach.

"When they see a flashlight, the crabs hide very quickly in the sand near the water's edge. Some run into burrows on the sandy shore, so crab catchers have to be quick and clearly identify which ones they want to catch," Bach said, adding that he usually catches crabs to roast with salt and eat, or peels them to use the meat in soup.

Mr. Bach proudly shows off half a bucketful of crabs he just caught. Photo: Vo Thanh — Mr. Bach proudly shows off half a bucketful of crabs he just caught. Photo: *Vo Thanh*

Meanwhile, Ho Van Phi, 35, from Quang Cong commune, Quang Dien district, made a very simple trap to catch crabs. He dug a hole and buried a plastic bucket in the sand, then spread some shrimp around the rim of the bucket. Smelling the shrimp, some crabs came to feed and fell into the plastic bucket.

"Once the crabs fall into the plastic bucket, they can't crawl out. Besides smearing shrimp paste around the plastic bucket, I also often use dead, smelly fish and place branches across the bucket to lure them into the trap. Many nights, more than half a bucket of crabs are caught in the trap after a few hours," Mr. Phi said.

Crab is bought by restaurants at a price of 30,000 VND/kg, and if there's a lot, he can earn up to 200,000 VND per night. But Mr. Phi usually keeps them for himself to eat and rarely sells them.

Mud crabs, also known as sand crabs, are a type of sea crab that usually lives near the shore on sandy beaches. Preparing mud crabs for food is very easy, and they can be used in many dishes such as stir-fried with salt, boiled and served with chili salt, or crushed to extract the juice for making soup.

Vo Thanh

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