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Late-arriving flower crab, three-spot crab and stone crab finally enter port! Where have the Wanli crabs gone? Lack of accurate statistics makes scientific research difficult

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Late-arriving flower crab, three-spot crab and stone crab finally enter port! Where have the Wanli crabs gone? Lack of accurate statistics makes scientific research difficult

Every year after autumn arrives, fleets of crab boats from Wanli District ride the waves and battle the sea in the Northwest Fishing Grounds, while gourmands wait to feast on fresh live crab. Yet last year the Wanli crabs appeared erratically, with no trace of them even in October. Not until late November, at the tail end of the season, did production show a glimmer of hope, and in December they finally entered a major run. "We waited the whole winter, and finally they're here!" fishermen said excitedly. But how long this wave of production can last, no one can predict.

Faced with an overall decline in production and a "missing crab mystery" in the early part of the season, data on Wanli crab resources has drawn much attention. Exactly how many Wanli crabs does Taiwan catch in a year? Because complete landing declarations have not been implemented, official statistics differ from actual catches by nearly 3-5 times.

With distorted statistics and a lack of scientific research, for the phenomenon of Wanli crabs "reporting in" later and later each year, aside from blaming abnormal climate, there seems to be little more active action to take. Fishermen who have long been accustomed to leaving things to heaven remain optimistic by nature, but they also reveal their helplessness, always saying: "However heaven sends it, that's how we respond; it's always been like this at sea."

In December the Wanli crab major run finally arrived, and fishermen busily sorted Wanli crabs at the port. (Provided by the Fisheries and Fishing Port Affairs Management Office, New Taipei City)

"Crabs don't remember what month it is now; they only look at whether the water temperature is cold enough."

"Wanli crab" covers three major categories of sea crab: flower crab, three-spot crab and stone crab. About 80% of the sea crabs caught in Taiwan's coastal waters come from Wanli District, New Taipei City, which has four fishing ports under its jurisdiction: Yeliu, Dong'ao, Guihou and Wanli. Seventy crab boats gather in the nearby "Northwest Fishing Grounds" (that is, the waters off Cape Fugui in New Taipei City). This spot lies where warm and cold currents meet and is also a sandy seabed nearly 100 m deep, an environment uniquely endowed and rich in all kinds of sea crab.

To differentiate them from imported and farmed crabs, in year 101 of the Republic of China calendar the New Taipei City Government branded Wanli crab, emphasizing a "freshest" local seafood image. "When autumn comes, the crabs grow fat!" Every year from September to November is the peak crab-catching season, and mid-October is the peak of the season. The New Taipei City Government holds Wanli crab promotional events, with live crabs delivered directly to the Yeliu, Fuji and Guihou markets, and restaurants packed with crowds buying crab. Yet last year (year 108 of the Republic of China calendar), just as the season began, Wanli crab catches were unusually low. Many consumers found crab prices had doubled. Wu Liang-cheng, chairman of the Chinese Fisheries and Fishing Vessel Association, also admitted that the first batch of production only surfaced in late November, and last year's Wanli Crab Tourism Festival was extremely hard to put on.

"Crabs don't remember what month it is now; they only look at whether the water temperature is cold enough." Wu Liang-cheng pointed out that in recent years the climate has continued to be hot, and it may be that rising seawater temperatures have changed the ecology. In past years crabs could be caught by August; the year before last, crab groups did not appear until September or later; last year was even worse, with people still wearing short sleeves in October, so crab boats could only hope the weather would turn cold early, otherwise the crabs might simply not come.

Wu Liang-cheng, chairman of the Chinese Fisheries and Fishing Vessel Association, holds a crab trap and explains how fishermen lure crabs. (Photo by Lin Pei-chun)

Strong northeast monsoon makes going to sea difficultWhat fishermen fear most is crabs "coming late and leaving early"

Zhu Guan-yu, the third-generation successor of the "Lian Family Team," which owns nine crab boats in Wanli and has run a crab-catching business for more than 60 years, also said that usually the lower the temperature, the more crabs there are. Before last November, the results of the various fishing boats were generally poor. A catch of 1-2 tonnes per trip was considered a high mark, and in September a single trip out to sea might yield only 300-400 Taiwan jin. "Several crab traps had only one crab each, and flower crabs were especially few, with the ratio to three-spot crabs about 1:10."

"What we fear most is the crab season 'arriving late and ending early,' so the real season may be only the single month of December." Just as northern Taiwan finally turned slightly cool after mid-November, several waves of cold air followed. Unfortunately, the strong northeast monsoon made going to sea difficult. "The crab season has finally come, but we can't send out the boats. What agony!" said Yan Fu-qing, secretary-general of the Chinese Fisheries and Fishing Vessel Association, wryly.

Third-generation crab fisherman Zhu Guan-yu (right) and his father. (Photo by Lin Pei-chun)

Wanli crabs report in December; fishermen sigh: Finally, they're here!

Fortunately, the Wanli crabs that had gone elsewhere to "escape the heat" gradually returned to the Northwest Fishing Grounds at the end of last year. As the northeast monsoon continued to intensify, Wanli crabs followed the cool cold seawater southward. Wu Liang-cheng joyfully said that after mid-December Wanli crabs finally entered a major run. "We waited the whole winter, and finally they're here!" Combined with good weather and calm sea conditions, fishing boat owners went out to sea again almost as soon as they returned to port to unload, and local shops also extended promotional events to celebrate the Wanli crab harvest.

The Wanli crab catch at the end of the year was clearly larger than the previous month, and as production rose, prices also stabilized. The Fisheries and Fishing Port Affairs Management Office of the New Taipei City Government (abbreviated as the New Taipei Fisheries Management Office) stated that according to market prices at the Guihou Fishermen's Market, before December last year the average market price per Taiwan jin was 552 yuan for flower crab, 322 yuan for three-spot crab and 275 yuan for stone crab; after the large run of production at the end of the month, Wanli crab prices also returned to past in-season levels: flower crab averaging 452 yuan per Taiwan jin, three-spot crab 335 yuan and stone crab 275 yuan, with the earlier increase about 10%.

Director Qiu of the New Taipei Fisheries Management Office pointed out that price changes adjust with production and are entirely determined by market supply and demand. Although the catches in September and October last year were not as large as in the same period in past years, prices did not fluctuate much.

Declared Wanli crab catch 300-500 tonnes; fishermen say at least 1,200 tonnes

It is an indisputable fact that abnormal climate, overfishing and marine pollution have reduced overall catches. Compared with other species, crustaceans produce many eggs and grow quickly, so their resource recovery capacity is fairly good. Still, many fishermen report that compared with five years ago, when a casual haul could bring in 3 tonnes (calculated on the basis of 10 sets of crab traps on one boat), production is now down by about 40%. Wu Liang-cheng, who has 30 years of crab-catching experience, stated outright that ten years ago it was not even surprising for a single trip out to sea to catch 5 tonnes.

Faced with an overall decline in production and a "missing crab mystery" in the early part of the season, data on Wanli crab resources has drawn much attention. Exactly how many Wanli crabs does Taiwan catch in a year? According to landing declaration statistics obtained by the New Taipei Fisheries Management Office, the Wanli crab catch was 454 tonnes in year 105 of the Republic of China calendar, 750 tonnes in year 106, 375 metric tonnes in year 107 and 324 metric tonnes last year (through October), averaging between 300-500 tonnes. Yet these figures differ greatly from the actual situation. Xu Shun-fa, chief secretary of the Wanli District Fishermen's Association, pointed out that the total catch the year before last was about 1,500 tonnes, and last year at least 1,100 tonnes.

Wu Liang-cheng also confirmed, "A figure of just over 300 tonnes is impossible. The entire Wanli crab industry needs at least 1,200 tonnes (caught) to be able to sustain itself."

Wanli crabs are loaded and unloaded after crab boats enter port. (Provided by the Fisheries and Fishing Port Affairs Management Office, New Taipei City)

Lack of solid statistics; fishermen's association: we will do our best to guide; Fisheries Agency: more understanding is still needed

Why is there such a large gap? It is understood that after local fishermen catch crabs and return to port, they sell wholesale to middlemen, and then declare their catch online based on delivery figures. There is no supervisory unit at the port, and fishermen mostly fill in declarations voluntarily, so naturally there is no binding force. Wu Liang-cheng also believes it is related to complicated declaration procedures, as many fishermen "get a headache just seeing the declaration form." Xu Shun-fa further said that some fishermen worry that "declaring too high a catch will result in tax deductions," and the fishermen's association has now stepped in to communicate and provide guidance.

Xu Shun-fa said, "I am in favor of truthful reporting of actual catches. Real data must be compiled through statistics, so that later there will be a basis for formulating management measures and catch quotas. Otherwise, if an overly low catch ceiling is set in the future, that will not benefit the crab industry either."

In response, when a reporter asked the Fisheries Agency about historical Wanli crab catch data, Wang Zheng-fang, deputy director-general of the Fisheries Agency, said, "More understanding is still needed." Regarding the current statistical data, he admitted frankly: "Overall, the landing declaration figures are indeed on the low side. It may be that fishermen's willingness to declare landings is low. If it is a technical problem, the Fisheries Agency will improve it. At present, declaration of bulk catches is listed as a priority, and we will also gradually promote declaration of crab catches." As for Wanli crabs appearing late and reduced production, he believes that changes in a species' resources must be observed over the long term and cannot be concluded based on a single year's numerical change.

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