Tuy Phong crab season is good

For more than 10 days now, fishermen in Chi Cong commune, Phan Ri Cua have been very excited about having a big crab season…

Around 6-7am, arriving at Ben Do (Phan Ri Cua town), the atmosphere here is very bustling when fishing boats return after a night. Along the wharf area, many female traders are waiting to help weigh and classify seafood. Baskets of fresh crabs are slowly brought ashore, mixed with many types of snails, fish... Unable to hide his joy, Mr. Nguyen Minh (Hai Tan quarter) shared: "In the past few days, there have been a lot of crabs, each basket earns several million VND/day. In the morning, the boats come in, I sell them to traders, around 2pm I go back to sea. This year, there are more crabs than in previous years, but the price is a bit low...". Talking about the amount of crabs caught, fisherman Le Ngoc Thanh - who has more than 10 years of experience in the profession in Phan Ri Cua town did not hide: "In the past few days, every boat has caught crabs. This season, fishermen go fishing, and in the north month, they go fishing more. If the day is good, some boats can harvest 20-40 kg/boat, basket; on bad days, it is only 10 kg. It is rare to return from the sea without catching any crabs. Therefore, fishermen are very excited.

At Chi Cong market, the atmosphere is even more bustling when dozens of people are gathering to sort crabs after purchasing them from the basket boats. According to Ms. Dung - a local buyer, "Every day I collect several hundred kilograms, sometimes up to a ton of all kinds of crabs such as lazy crabs, so crabs, moon crabs, red crabs... I sell grade 1 crabs to restaurants and eateries, grade 2-3 crabs to markets in the province. Smaller crabs are sold to processing companies to get meat to make floss... The price of crabs ranges from a few dozen to a few hundred thousand VND/kg depending on the size. Compared to previous years, this year's crab output is quite large, mainly lazy crabs (also known as green crabs), red crabs with firm meat, distributed to many places in and outside the province. The price is cheaper than previous years, but most of the baskets specializing in catching crabs earn an average of several million VND/day". To sell crabs at a good price, when they have just pulled up the trap, fishermen must tie the crabs’ claws with rubber bands to avoid breaking the crabs’ claws or legs, which will not give them a high price. After 1-2 trips, fishermen must clean the traps to remove mud and patch up any tears so that the next fishing trip will be more effective.

Most of the boats and baskets that went crab fishing in the past few days were successful, so many boats and ships switched to this profession, earning a decent income. Each basket is over ten meters long but can be folded neatly, so it is called a folding basket. The head of the basket is the door for seafood to enter, the tail is where fish, snails, and crabs get stuck. The basket is usually placed in the reef area, lowered close to the seabed, 8-10 meters deep, and after just one night, the basket is pulled up through a pulley system, and many different types of seafood can be harvested at the sealed end. However, according to veteran fishermen, this folding basket profession is highly destructive to the environment, leaving no seafood, large or small, behind because the mesh is small and the water level is low.

According to long-time fishermen in Tuy Phong sea area, the crab fishing season usually starts from November to February of the following year, which means the water is turbid, the waves are big, and more crabs will be caught in the net. According to the explanation of the fishermen here, perhaps the recent storms and rains affected the living environment of crabs, so in the past few days, you only need to go a few nautical miles from shore to "hunt" crabs. Although the price is not as high as in previous years, crabs are still a type of seafood that brings a good income to many local fishermen. Taking advantage of the large crab output, most fishermen who exploit nearshore take advantage of going to sea, hoping to get a large output, sell at a good price, and cover the cost of buying school supplies for their children as the new school year approaches.

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