The late crab finally arrived! Where are the crabs going? Lack of accurate statistics makes scientific research difficult

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After entering autumn every year, groups of crab boats in Wanli District ride the wind and waves to fight with the sea in the northwest fishing ground, and gluttons are also waiting to feast on the delicacy of live crabs. However, last year, crabs were capricious, and there was still no sign in October. It was not until the end of November, when the delivery period ended, that the yield showed a glimmer of light. In December, it finally came out. "after waiting for a whole winter, it finally came!" The fisherman said excitedly. But how long will this wave of production last? No one can predict.

In the face of the decline in overall production and the staging of "missing Crab" in the early period of delivery, the resource data of Wanli crab has attracted a lot of attention. How many thousands of miles of crabs do Taiwan catch in a year? Due to the failure to implement the full discharge declaration, the gap between official statistics and the actual catch is nearly 3 ─ 5 times.

With the distortion of statistical data and the lack of scientific research, it seems difficult to act more actively for the phenomenon that the "check-in time" of ten thousand miles crab is getting later and later year by year, except because of the abnormal climate. Fishermen who have been used to watching heaven eat for many years have always maintained an optimistic character, but they also reveal their helplessness, always saying, "We will respond as God comes. It has always been like this on the sea."

After the crab boat enters the port, load and unload the crab (provided / New Taipei City Fisheries Management Office). "the crab won't remember what month it is. It just looks to see if the water is cold enough."

"Wanli Crab" consists of three major types of sea crabs: flower crabs, three-point crabs and stone crabs. 80% of the sea crabs caught in Taiwan's coastal waters come from Wanli District of New Taipei City, and there are four fishing ports, including Willow, Dongao, Turtle Roar, and Wanli. 70 crab fishing boats gather in the adjacent "Northwest fishing ground" (that is, the sea off Fuguijiao, New Taipei City), where the pro-tide and Kuroshio converge, a sandy seafloor nearly 100 meters deep, with a unique environment and rich in all kinds of sea crabs.

In order to make a distinction between imported crabs and farmed crabs, the Xinbei Municipal Government branded Wanli crabs in 101, emphasizing the local seafood image of "still green". "when autumn comes, the crabs will get fat!" Every year, the crab season is from September to November, and the birth period is at its peak in mid-October. The New North Municipal Government holds a ten-thousand-mile crab promotion, where live crabs are sent directly to the wild willow, Fuji and tortoise roar bazaars, and restaurants are crowded with crab buyers. However, at the beginning of the production period in the last 108 years, the catch of crabs in Wanli was extremely low, and many consumers found that the price of crabs had doubled. Wu Shicheng, director of the China Fisheries and fishing vessels Association, also admitted that the first batch of production did not surface until late November. Last year, the Wanli Crab Tourism Festival was very hard.

"the crab won't remember what month it is. It just wants to see if the water is cold enough." Wu Liang-Cheng points out that the climate has remained hot in recent years, and it may be that the warming of the sea has led to ecological changes. Crabs were caught in August of last year, and crabs did not appear until more than September the year before last. Last year was even worse, and they were still wearing short sleeves in October. Crab fishing boats have no choice but to hope that the weather will get cold soon, otherwise the crabs may not come.

Wu Liancheng, chairman of the China Fisheries and fishing vessels Association, holds a crab cage in his hand (Photo / Lin Meijun). He is most afraid that it will be difficult for crabs to "arrive late and end early" when the northeast monsoon comes.

Zhu Guanyu, the third generation successor of the family, who has nine crab boats in Wanli and has been in the crab industry for more than 60 years, also said that the colder the temperature is, the more crabs there are. before November last year, the performance of fishing boats was generally not good. Even if the catch of 1-2 tons per trip was high, it was only 300-400 Taiwan jin per trip to sea in September. "there is only one in several crab cages, and there are very few flower crabs. The quantity of crabs at three o'clock is about 1:10. "

"We are most afraid of 'arriving late and ending early', so the real delivery period may only be 12 months." It was not easy to look forward to the coolness in northern Taiwan after mid-November, and several waves of cold air went on to report, but the strong northeast monsoon made it difficult to go to sea. "the crab season has finally come, but it's painful that we can't get out of the boat!" Yan Fuqing, secretary-general of the China Fisheries and fishing vessels Association, joked.

The third generation crab fisherman Zhu Guanyu (right) and his father (Photo / Lin Mengjun) reported to the fishermen in December and sighed: finally!

Fortunately, Wanli crabs, who went to other places for summer vacation, returned to the northwest fishing ground one after another at the end of last year. As the northeast monsoon continues to blow, and the crab moves south with the cool water, Wu Liancheng says happily that after mid-December, the crab finally enters Dafu, "waiting for a whole winter, and finally coming!" In addition to the fine weather and smooth walruses, the fishing boat owner almost returned to Hong Kong to unload and then went out to sea again, and local shops also increased the size of the promotion to celebrate the harvest of ten thousand miles of crabs.

The catch of crabs in Wanli at the end of the year was significantly higher than that in the previous month, and production rose and prices stabilized. The New Taipei City Fisheries and fishing Port Business Management Office (hereinafter referred to as the "New North Fisheries Management Office") said that according to the market price of the tortoise roar fisherman's market, before December last year, the average price of flower crab market was 552 yuan per jin, 322 yuan for three-point crab, and 275 yuan for stone oyster. After the large output at the end of the month, the price of crab in Wanli also returned to the previous annual production price: 452 yuan per catty, 335 yuan for three-point crab, and 275 yuan for stone carp, up about 10% previously.

Director Qiu of the Agriculture and Fisheries Management Office pointed out that price changes are all determined by market supply and demand with the adjustment of production. Although the catch in September and October last year was not as large as in the same period in previous years, the price did not fluctuate much.

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Reported catch of crabs in ten thousand miles fishermen: at least 1200 tons

The reduction of overall catch caused by abnormal climate, overfishing and marine pollution is an indisputable fact. Compared with other species, crustaceans have a large number of eggs, grow rapidly, and their resource resilience is good, but many fishermen still reflect that compared with 3 tons at random five years ago (calculated by 10 sets of crab cages on a ship), the yield is now about 40% less. Wu Liancheng, who has 30 years of experience in crab fishing, said bluntly that it would not be surprising to catch 50,000 tons on a trip to sea ten years ago.

In the face of the decline in overall production and the "disappearance" staged in the early period of delivery, the resource data of Wanli crab has attracted a lot of attention. How many thousands of miles of crabs do Taiwan catch in a year? According to the statistics of the fish discharge declaration obtained by the New North Fisheries Management Office, the catch of crabs in 105 years is 454 tons, 750 tons in 106 years, 375 metric tons in 107 years, and 324 metric tons last year (as of October), with an average of 300-400 tons. However, this figure is far from the actual situation. Xu Shunfa, director general of the Wanli District Fisheries Association, pointed out that the total catch was about 1500 tons the year before last, and at least 1100 tons last year.

Wu Liancheng also confirmed that "with a figure of more than 300 tons, that is impossible. The entire crab industry needs at least 1200 tons (captured) to survive."

After the crab fishing boat enters the port, there is no real data statistics for loading and unloading crabs (provided / New Taipei City Fisheries Management Office), and it is difficult to manage the policy without replenishment basis.

Why is there such a big gap? It is understood that after the local fishermen returned to Hong Kong to catch crabs, they sold the goods to the trader and then reported the catch online according to the delivery figures. there were no inspectors and fishermen in the port, so there was a natural lack of coercive force. Wu Liangcheng also believes that it has something to do with the complicated declaration procedures, and many fishermen "have a headache when they see the declaration form." Xu Shunfa even said that some fishermen