lobsters and crab fisheries in INDIA is a vast and enormous amount of catch and exports are being made. this slide describes about the methods, distribution, annual landings and important species of lobster and crabs in India.

1. Guided by: Dr. Ajay
yadav
Professor M.sc Dept.
Presented by: Abhi Giri
M.Sc –II
(Oceanography)
Sem – III/ P- III

2. I. LOBSTER FISHERY
• Lobster fishery in India.
• Methods of lobster fishing.
• Restrictions
• Distribution of species.
II. CRAB FISHERY
• Crab fishing in India.
• Crab landings.
• Methods of collection & preservation,
• Domestic marketing.
• Crab research in India

3. Lobster fishery in India
American orMaine lobster Caribbean spiny lobster
Norway lobster, Dublin Bay prawn

4. • Lobsters are widely fished around the world for their
meat.
• They are often hard to catch in large numbers, but their
large size can make them a profitable catch.
• Lobsters as excellent food of delicacy are widely
acclaimed & have a world-wide market.
• South Africa, Australia and Cuba rank best in the spiny
lobster fisheries

5. • Total 18 species of rock lobsters representing to 9
genera in family Palinuridae have been reported from
indian ocean.
• Lobster fishery in India is supported by 6 species of
shallow water spiny lobster belonging to the genus
Panulirus namely
• P. ho m arus, P. po lyphag us, P. o rnatus, P. pe nicillatus, P.
ve rsico lo r & P. lo ng ipe s .
• Maximum lobster landing in India was realised mainly
from Gujrat; Maharashtra & Tamil nadu.
• Sandlobster Thynus o rie ntalis is also found in catch of
Gujrat.

6. • The large Ho m arus lobsters are
caught with lobster pots (also
called "lobster traps").
• These are large rigid objects
which the lobster enters to reach
bait, and which it then cannot
escape.
• Traps are also used in some spiny
lobster fisheries, such as the
fishery for the California spiny
lobster, Panulirus inte rruptus , in
the eastern Pacific Ocean.
A lobster pot

7. • Trawling is the main method used for the Norway lobster
or Dublin Bay prawn, Ne phro ps no rve g icus , and for those
slipper lobsters that prefer soft substrates, such
as The nus and Ibacus.
• It has also become more frequently used in the fishery
for Ho m arus am e ricanus .
• Gill nets and trammel nets are used for the Caribbean
spiny lobster, Panulirus arg us

8. • Slipper lobsters that prefer crevices, caves
and reefs (including Scyllaride s, Arctide s and Parribacus
species) are usually caught by SCUBA divers.

9. • Legal restrictions apply to the catching of lobsters in
many parts of the world, in order to
prevent overfishing and allow recruitment to the next
generation.
• Common restrictions include the provision of a minimum
landing size, preventing fishermen from catching
"berried" females (females carrying eggs), closed
seasons and limiting catches with individual fishing
quotas.
• Commercial fishing regulators in the United States, such
as the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and
the National Marine Fisheries Service, enforce
restrictions through the use of lobster fishing licenses and
lobster pot tags that correspond to the fisher's permit
number.
• Tag manufacturers also maintain databases for each
state's licensed fisheries, tracking how many tags each

10. • Of the 2,80,000 tons of lobster catches reported to the
Food & Agriculture for the year 2010.
• 1,88,000 tons was of True lobster (Family Nephropidae).
• 80,000 tons was of Spiny lobsters (Palinuridae).
• 10,000 tons was of Slipper lobsters (Scyllaridae)

11. Crab Fishery in India

12. • Crab fishery in India is yet to recognized as a major
fishery despite the abundance all along the Indian coast.
• There are about 600 crab species in Indian waters.
• Only few of them are used for human consumption
• Scylla se rrata, S. tranq ue darica, Pro tunus pe lag icns, P.
sang uino le ntus, Charybdis crusiata, C. fe riata .
• Among these Scylla serata commonly called mud crab or
green crab forms mainstay of crab fishery in India & is
economically most important.
• Occurring along both east & west coast of India.
• Popular species in Indo-Pacific region because of its size,
meat quality, high price & export potential.

13. • Annual crab landings from the natural population is
estimated to be 38,000 tonnes per year of which 25,000
tonnes is from marine sector & 13,000 tonnes from
brackish water.
• Mud crab accounted for more than 75% of crab landing.
• Crab meat, cut crab & live crabs are exported from India
to countries like Japan, USA, France, Hong Kong &
Malaysia.
• In India the crab fishery is small scale & is based mainly
on capture fishery.
• Kerala is a major supplier to the export trade and
Chennai (Madras) is the main centre of live mud crab
exports to Singapore and Malaysian markets.

14. STATE/TERRITO
RY
GEAREMPLOYED FISHERY SEASON
MARINE
SECTOR
Gujarat Gillnet, stake net, cast net, line with
bait, pair of tongs, iron rods
June-August
Maharashtra Seine net, hoop net, hooked iron or
steel
rods, line with bait
August-October
Goa Gillnet, line with bait, handpicking June-September
Karnataka Gillnet, trawl net, scoop net October-May
Tamil Nadu Boat seine, shore seine, gillnet, cast
net,
trawl net
March-June and
October-
December

15. • S. serrata is much demand in the domestic market &
fetches a good price, compared to other species of crab.
• It can be successfully marketed only in live condition, as
there is a prejudice purchasing dead crab.
• Medium & large crab of more than 14 cm CW & weighing
more than 400 g. are collected exclusively for export in
WB, Orissa, AP, TN, Kerala, Karnataka, GOA,
Maharashtra, etc
• Crab stay out of water for a max 72 hours, they are sent
to major cities by train.
• They are packed in bamboo baskets, each basket
accommodating about 20-30 kg.
• Middleman who collects often mark up the price by about
50-100 %, depending on the size, when re-selling them
to the retailer at the market.

16. • Crabs are easy to collect & mostly hand
picked in intertidal & sub tidal zones.
• Netting & trapping are the commercial
fishing practices.
• Burrowing intertidal crabs may be collected
either by digging or by purring or by pouring dilute
formalin or weak acid inside the burrow.
• Crabs are preserved in 6-10% formalin neutralized with
Hexamine i.e., 100 gm. per 1000ml formalin.
• To avoid limb-shredding crabs may be narcotized first with
menthol crystals or by adding few drops of chloroform &
then preserved in spirit of formalinated spirit for a day or
two, after fixing crabs are preserved in 6-10% formalin for
lab studies.

17. • National
1. Mumbai
2. Karwar
3. Kochi
4. Pondicherry
5. Chennai
6. Visakhapatnam
7. Port Blair
• Global
• South Africa
• Indonesia
• Philippines
• China
• Japan
• Australia
• Hawaii

18. Scoop net
Gill net
Cast net

19. • True crabs make up 20% of all crustaceans caught and
farmed worldwide, with about 1.4 million tonnes being
consumed annually.
• The horse crab, Po rtunus tritube rculatus accounts for one
quarter of that total.
• Other important species include flower crabs (Po rtunus
pe lag icus), snow crabs (Chio no e ce te s ), blue crabs
(Calline cte s sapidus ), edible or brown crabs (Cance r
pag urus), Dungeness crab(Me tacarcinus m ag iste r) and
mud crabs (Scylla se rrata), each of which provides more
than 20,000 tonnes annually.

20. • The experimental culture of S. serrata in India indicates
an average monthly growth of 9 mm / 10 gm. in
laboratory, 11 mm / 19 gm. in cages and 14 mm /29 gm.
in ponds. The survival rate ranges from 28 to 86 %.
• The estimated production rate is 494-600 kg/ha in
monoculture and 690 kg/ha in polyculture with milkfish
and mullet.
• It may be concluded that the culture of crabs has a good
potential in India because of the abundance of edible
species all along Indian coastline, their fast growth rate
and short life history. However, sufficient data is not
available to assess the economic viability of the mud crab
culture.
• In this context, further research and development on S.
se rrata and other commercially important crab species
are needed to assess the economic viability of its culture

21. • Scylla se rrata is an economically
important crab species found in
the estuaries and
mangroves of Africa, Australia and As
ia.
• The shell colour varies from a deep,
mottled green to very dark brown.
• Generally cooked with their shells on,
when they moult their shells, they can
be served as a seafood delicacy, one
of many types of soft shell crab.
• They are among the tastiest crab
species and have a huge demand
in South Asian countries where they
are often bought alive in the markets.
• Mud crabs are relatively common and
generally prized above other seafood
within the general public.

22. • known as the ho rse crab, g az am i
crab or Japane se blue crab, is the
most
widely fished species of crab in the
world, with over
300,000 tonnes being caught
annually, 98% of it off the coast
of China.
• Horse crabs are found in South
India, In Malay, it is known
as ke tam bung a or "flower crab".
• It lives on shallow sandy or muddy
bottoms, less than 50 m deep,
where it feeds
on seaweeds and predates upon
small fish, worms and bivalves.

23. • large crab found in the
intertidal estuaries of
the Indian and Pacific Oceans
• The name flo we r crab is used in
east Asian countries while the
latter names are used in
Australia.
• They stay buried under sand or
mud most of the time,
particularly during the daytime
and winter.
• The species is commercially
important throughout the Indo-
Pacific where they may be sold
as traditional hard shells, or as
"soft shelled" crabs, which are
considered a delicacy
throughout Asia.
• The species is highly prized as
the meat is almost as sweet as
the blue crab, although P.
pe lag icus is physically much