PURPOSE OF ACTIVITY TARGET SCOPE OF ACTIVITIES
FINAL REPORT
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Fishermen understand that crabs need to breed at least once to maintain population numbers but many do not understand the best way to allow this to happen. Fishermen
need to be convinced that allowing small crabs to escape in the same area they entered the potstraps is biologically better than bringing them on board boats, stressing them,
and then releasing them away from their natural home. It is vital to the long-term sustainability of the blue swimming crab fishery that the vast majority of fishermen are
in agreement that an efficient, low impact method of sorting outreturning smaller crabs to the sea as close to the source of capture as possible is beneficial to the environment
and local biodiversity, and in turn their long-term livelihood prospects.
Small, appropriately sized escape gaps or exit points can be fitted to pots or traps to greatly reduce the number of undersize crabs taken in a fisherman’s catch. Most traps
or pots are fitted with a primary, one-way entrance point that is sized to accommodate the largest available crabs in an area. Through this entrance point, both large and small
crabs enter the pottrap. Escape gaps are normally found towards the bottom of a pottrap and provide a convenient way for smaller crabs to escape while restraining the
larger crabs they can’t fit through the gaphole in the wall of the pottrap. If a smaller crab feels threatened by a bigger crab, or senses vibration when the pottrap is being
retrieved by the fishers, it can scurry out through the escape gap. This has the advantage that the smaller crab exits back into the environment in which it has been living in.
Crabs are sensitive to their surrounding and often do not do well when removed from familiar, nurturing surroundings.
Escape gaps are compulsory in many countries to ensure the survival of the species. The escape gaps are normally holes in the lower wall section of a pottrap. Escape gaps
come in all shapes and sizes. The dimensions of the gaps are based on the minimum size limit fisheries managers recommend for a particular crab species. Crabs are
measured from left to right across the greatest distance of their carapace back shell. The escape gaps ridged holes in the pots are then designed to allow crabs having a
smaller size than the minimum size limit to escape. Presently there is no minimum size limit for Blue Swimming Crabs in Southeast Sulawesi. MMAF, with the help of
IMACS, is working to establish what size crabs should be taken and what size should remain in the sea. The recommended size limit on Blue Swimming Crabs will be
established jointly by the Provincial and District DKP Southeast Sulawesi in the next 2 months and used as the basis for designing the most appropriate escape gaps. However,
the need for escape gaps already exists and would likely be supported by most crab fishers today as it saves time and effort in sorting the catch and most fishermen want the
tiny crabs to survive and grow to market size.