I am a 73 year old retiree who has taken upon himslef the challenge of benefitting 12 poor live crab fishermen in a somewhat minus 3rd world environment. A life time small business entrepreneur I have no trouble with the sales and marketing end of the program. It's at the supply end where I am a true grenhorn, having never held a crab in my hands much less eaten one. (burt then if I set up a ladies panties factory I would not excatly whear them, either).

In all my past projects I have made a keen effort to learn as much as possible about the product, the production end, the business end..etc. I face the reality that sources of good professional information on live blue and red crabs (UCIDES OCCIDENTALES & CARDOSSONA CRASSUN), are somewhat lacking. I have been drawing informatikon from fishermen, and peope who have been making a living selling crabs (a truly valuable source of sorts but with great limitaitons, as they draw exclussively from empiric observations and assumptions).

I fish in Nicaragua where crab fishing is somewhat artisanal and for subsistence (to eat some for daily and neightbors need). In the case of Cardosona Crassun (blue crabs) the most common fishing method is to place a pice of a poisonous tree branch and when the crab comes out to sek food at night, the eat the branch and die. Later they pick up what they need to eat and maybe sell a few and wind up killing indiscriminently. We use my improved versio0n of PVC tube traps placed on the mouth of their burrow. When they come out of the trap, it's an extension of their hole and when they open the trap door and advance the door shuts and they get caught. It's a simple effective method, albeit if it took us much time and money to fine tune the trap.

These crabs are notorious for eating just abut anything on their way. Thus we put them in a pen for nearly 2 weeks, to clean their stomachs, release the stress of being grabbed and placed in a crowded bag (often for 3 full days without water and food), and fatten them and strengthen them. The 2 week period is arbritary, from hearsay of alleged crabs experts.

We plan to flush clean the pen's floor 4 times a day on the theory that they feed of the floor where they elaso excrete and do not discriminate as to what they eat off the floor On the reasonable assumption that crabs (or humans for that matter) are a reflection of what they eat, we want to prevent as much as possible their eating their own excrement. (In Venezuela, not surprisingly, these blue land crabs are called "shit eating crabs").

Now I turn to a professional chat sorce to see if I can make some basic queries and get valuable informaiton:

1. We use cut up pieces of coconut meat fro two days to clean their stomach. The fat in the coconut will literally give crabs the "runs" and thus theri stomach is cleaned. Then we change the diet fo broken kernekls of dry corn whnich presumablywill fatten them and strengthen them (the later I do on blind faith on what fishermen and crab dealers have told me)
2. As with just about every other species being held in captivity for future sale, (taking for granted that hardly anything I encounter is not a novel and brand new problem) I assume some one may know and have worked on "what to feed these crabs during captity and/or what food suplement I can add to their diet (mixed wiith the corn) as pellets or whatever; to help fatten and strengthen them.
3. A key problem with live crabs i importation, whiah is done by air, is that there as high as 15% mortality rate. My target is that if my crabs are going to die at all, let gthem die in ther homeland and not waste precious money shipping them to Puerto Rico, where buyers assume the costly risk of mortality.


To any and all who reads this message please share your wisdom and experience with us.

Juan E. Jiménez, Jr.
San Juan, P. R. 00907-4310
[email protected]