Cancer Pagurus - Fishery

Fishery

Cancer pagurus is heavily exploited commercially throughout its range, being the most commercially important crab species in Western Europe. The crabs are caught using crab pots (similar to lobster pots) which are placed offshore and baited. The catch of C. pagurus has increased steadily, rising from 26,000 tonnes in 1978 to 60,000 t in 2007, of which more than 70% was caught around the British Isles. The fishery is widely dispersed around the British and Irish coasts, and C. pagurus is thought to be overfished across much of this area. Most of the edible crabs caught by the British fleet are exported live for sale in France and Spain.

A number of legal restrictions apply to the catching of Cancer pagurus. It is illegal to catch "berried" crabs (females carrying eggs), but since ovigerous females remain in pits dug in the sediment and do not feed, fishing pressure does not affect the supply of larvae. Minimum landing sizes (MLS) for C. pagurus are set by both the European Union technical regulations and by the UK government. Different minimum sizes are employed in different geographical areas, to reflect differences in the crab's growth rate across its range. In particular, the "Cromer crab" fishery along the coasts of Suffolk, Norfolk and Lincolnshire is subject to a MLS of 115 mm (4.5 in), rather than the 140 mm (5.5 in) MLS in most of the species' range. An intermediate value of 130 mm (5.1 in) is used in the rest of the North Sea between the 56th parallel north and the Essex–Kent border, and in the Irish Sea south of 55° N. Around Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, there is a separate MLS for males (160 mm or 6.3 in) and females (140 mm or 5.5 in). The Norwegian catch is 8,500 tons annually, compared to 20,000 tons in the United Kingdom, 13,000 tons in Ireland, 8,500 tons in France, and a total 45,000 tons globally.