Hairy crabs hit the market in October, prices may fall

August 15 news: According to a report by Labour Daily, there is still more than a month to go before hairy crabs are sold in bulk. A reporter visited the core production area of Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs——the 32,000-mu net-enclosed breeding zone. Breeders told the reporter that this year will be a “big year” for hairy crabs. At present, crab merchants are quoting prices slightly higher than last year, but some experts believe that the increase in supply may hold down hairy crab prices.

A feast for the crabs: corn plus small fish

When people talk about hairy crabs, the first thing that comes to mind is Yangcheng Lake.

Driving along the Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway, in less than an hour we exited at Bacheng, and soon arrived at the shore of Yangcheng Lake. We left the car and boarded a boat. The boat set out from a small river, passed through a water gate, and suddenly everything opened up. The broad expanse of the lake stretched out before our eyes.

After the speedboat had travelled for a few minutes, it slowed down. Ahead, a net enclosure surrounded a vast stretch of water. Entering through a small water gate, one could clearly see two cement boats moored in the middle of the water, one large and one small. A room had been built on the large cement boat, clearly the breeders' daily living quarters. Quite a few things were placed on the small cement boat. Looking closer, the most eye-catching items were two large basins of golden-yellow corn.

The owners of this stretch of water are Wu Xuelin and his wife. Working on the lake all day, the two have deeply tanned skin, but they look capable and move briskly when working. “Yes, this is the food fed to the hairy crabs every day.” Wu Xuelin pointed to the two large basins of golden-yellow corn and answered the reporter's question with a smile. He ran to the stern, gave a tug with his hand, and a net bag of small fish rose out of the water. After putting it back in the water, he lifted another net bag. The reporter saw that the fish in this net bag were much larger. “These are also fed to the hairy crabs. The small fish are caught ourselves, while the large fish are bought from the market,” Wu Xuelin said.

At the scene, the reporter was fortunate enough to see the hairy crabs being fed. The couple rowed a wooden boat and made a circuit around the water area. One steered with an oar at the stern, while the other fed the crabs at the bow. The small fish were cut into two pieces and thrown into the water. When feeding corn, they scooped a basinful with a small rice bowl and scattered it outward with a swing of the hand; after tracing an arc, the corn fell into the water like raindrops.

“This year's crabs are bigger than last year's”

Wu Xuelin told the reporter that the stretch of water he contracts is 40 mu, and about 20,000 hairy crabs are farmed here in total. He said that when farming hairy crabs, the timing of releasing crab seedlings varies from person to person. Some like to do it earlier, some later.

He himself began releasing crab seedlings in late March. From then on, the couple have basically lived on the boat, and this will continue until this year's hairy crab harvest is finished.

Wu Xuelin, who has farmed hairy crabs for nearly 20 years, beamed with smiles when talking about this year's growth. “This year's crabs are relatively large, bigger than in the past one or two years.” He said that so far, the hairy crabs he is farming have already molted three times, and each has grown to about 2 liang. In past years, they were not this big.

Wu Xuelin is a breeder under the Jinhai Yangcheng Lake Special Aquaculture Base. Gu Genlin, the person in charge of the Jinhai Yangcheng Lake Special Aquaculture Base, told the reporter that the situation Wu Xuelin described is not an isolated case. The hairy crabs raised by breeders under the base all show very encouraging growth, and it is now certain that they are larger than last year.

“This year's crab seedling release and farming scale are on par with last year, but the lake crabs will be larger.” said Yang Weilong, president of the Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crab Industry Association. He said that the latest monitoring figures show that the average weight of hairy crabs has now reached 1.7-1.8 liang, while in the same period last year it was only 1.3-1.5 liang.

Encouraging growth, with favorable weather as the main reason

The reporter learned during interviews that suitable climate is the main reason this year's hairy crabs are growing better than in previous years.

“The weather is good, and heaven is helping.” This is how breeder Wu Xuelin feels.

Professor Wang Wu of Shanghai Ocean University, chief expert of the Ministry of Agriculture's fishery science and technology entry-to-households program and adviser to the Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crab Industry Association, said that from February to May this year, the Suzhou area had little rain and suffered drought, and the water depth of Yangcheng Lake was only about 1.5 m, which helped sunlight penetrate directly to the lake bottom, promote the growth of aquatic plants, and provide abundant feed for the crabs. Starting in June, the Suzhou area had continuous rainfall, and the water depth of Yangcheng Lake returned to about 1.8 m. The water temperature was not hot, which was also conducive to the growth of crabs in summer.

Yang Weilong summed it up as “favorable weather, favorable geographical conditions, and favorable human factors.” He explained that favorable weather means that from February to May the water level of Yangcheng Lake dropped by 30 cm, and the aquatic plants grew well. Good aquatic plant growth, on the one hand, purified the water quality, and on the other hand, provided abundant feed for the hairy crabs. Now the water level has risen somewhat, which is very conducive to crab growth. Favorable geographical conditions means that the ecological environment has improved, and fish, shrimp, shellfish and river snails grow well, so the crabs have relatively abundant food and good nutritional supply. Favorable human factors means that in recent years, through continuous guidance and instruction, crab farmers' farming techniques have kept improving, and the phenomena of “raising on a shoestring,” “lazy farming,” and “farming blindly” have basically ceased to exist. At the same time, crab farmers are also willing to invest and dare to invest. Because of the combined effect of these factors, this year's hairy crabs show a generally good growth trend.