New Delhi (Mizzima) – The fisheries department in the western Burmese port of Sittwe in Arakan State banned crabbing across more than 1,000 acres in six townships at the end of last month, fisheries product stakeholders say.
Arakanese people were arbitrarily catching freshwater crabs – the second largest state export item by value – without controls in Sittwe, Myebon, Punnakyun, Toungup, Ann and Ramree townships, so the department declared 1,138.48 acres (461 hectares) “no crabbing zones”, a fishery-product trader in Sittwe told Mizzima.“Announcing … the zone … will lead to a temporary fall in the tonnage of crabs we are buying but it is good for the long term as it represents the conservation of stocks and can avoid extinction of the species,” the trader said.
The declared “no-catch zone” for crabs comprises six acres in Sittwe, 54.73 acres in Punnakyun, 500 acres in Myebon, 537 acres in Toungup, 37.5 acres in Ann and 3.25 acres in Ramree, the Arakan State Fisheries Department’s announcement says.
Most local people in rural areas of Arakan State were farmers and some of those were fishermen who catch fish, prawns and freshwater crabs. Stocks of these crabs were dwindling in these areas and more fishermen were relying on fishing at sea, a crab-exchange owner said.
The exchanges buy crabs from fishermen at 500 kyat a piece for items above 100 grammes (3.5 ounces) for export, he said.
The crabs are available across Arakan State and Irrawaddy and Tenasserim divisions. They can fetch US$1,500 per tonne at Muse export market on the Sino-Burmese border, in Shan State.
Part of the reason for the announcement was that shipments to Muse from Arakan State were including undersized crabs of below 100 grammes. The restriction was aimed at preventing over-catching in some areas as the undersized crabs were still being included in “export quality” shipments, a trader said.
The export of crabs from Arakan State to the Chinese market started in 2000.
