Losses experienced by some crab farmers in the Philippines have been traced to the very low survival of crablets that were misidentified as the popular king crab.
In one instance, a group of pond operators in Pontevedra, Capiz imported crablets that were wrongly advertised as a cross breed between king crab and another crab locally known as pulahan.
“It was reported that the crablets caused huge losses for the farmers because of their very low survival. A few survived but they produced low quality market-sized crabs that ended up being sold for a very cheap price,” said Joana Joy Huervana, commodity leader for crabs at the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD) which confirmed that the crabs were not cross-bred but a different one altogether.
Farmers prefer to culture king crab because it grows bigger and faster compared to other species but incorrectly labelled crab is dangerous as some species pose a threat to local stocks and farms because they can carry disease or other contaminants. Joana Joy Huervana said there must be more vigilance when importing stocks and urged farmers to source crab seeds from trusted and reliable suppliers.
SEAFDEC/AQD operates one of the country’s few king crab hatcheries in Tigbauan, Iloilo, but mainly as a research facility with excess yields sold to farmers. In 2019, the hatchery-produced 656,200 king crablets.
