Make room calamari, crabs are moving in

GOOD CATCH: Workers pack bags of Jonah crabs for shipment at Rome Packing in East Providence. Jonah crab is fetching about 85 cents per pound, an improvement over 50 cents per pound five years ago. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
GOOD CATCH: Workers pack bags of Jonah crabs for shipment at Rome Packing in East Providence. Jonah crab is fetching about 85 cents per pound, an improvement over 50 cents per pound five years ago. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Calamari may have company.
Another ocean-dwelling species, crab, has scuttled into a prominent position in the Rhode Island seafood scene, providing a welcome boost for beleaguered southern New England lobstermen.
In particular Jonah crab, a long-ignored species, has increased in abundance and landings in local ports over the past several years, just as American seafood consumers have begun to develop a taste for the crustaceans.
Between 1995 and 2012, the most recent year of statistics, the Atlantic Jonah crab catch more than quintupled, from 1.9 million pounds to 11.5 million pounds, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Massachusetts led the way with 65 percent of the 2012 catch, with Rhode Island second at 28 percent. In 2012, the combined 10.8 million pounds of Jonah crab landed in those two states was estimated to be worth $7.9 million.
And fishermen say those numbers have only grown in the two years since.
“The population appears to be exploding,” said Newport-based offshore lobsterman David Spencer. “Landings continue to go up. The season gets longer. The spatial distribution gets wider and prices remain constant. It has been a wonderful economic opportunity for a near-shore and offshore lobster fishery that was experiencing difficulties.”
Exactly why fishermen are catching so many more Jonah crabs now is not entirely clear.
Many believe rising ocean temperatures are involved, driving species north and east toward colder water.
This dynamic has been attributed to growing New England populations of other typically more Southern species such as croaker and butterfish.
Rock crab, which is similar to Jonah crab but generally lives in shallower water, has also become more abundant locally, as has blue crab, the traditional mainstay of the Chesapeake Bay.
Another possible explanation is that the depletion of the lobster population in southern New England has opened up habitat for crabs to move into. One reason why explaining their growth could be difficult is, like other traditionally unpopular species, Jonah crab are unregulated and their populations have not been tracked and studied like lobster or cod.
Any licensed fisherman can land as many Jonah crab as he or she can catch in either state or federal waters.
But Jonah crabs’ growing commercial importance has led regulators and industry leaders to think about getting a better grip on the species to protect it.
“The increase in [crab] catch could be from the same amount of fishing and a growing population or just more people shifting and directing their effort to catch it,” said Mark Gibson, deputy chief for marine fisheries at the R.I. Division of Fish and Wildlife. “We need some fundamental research on how long they live, how they molt, and their basic life history in terms of setting a minimum size.”
Concerned that the lack of regulation conflicted with its sustainability policy, the Belgian-owned supermarket chain Delhaize America, which sells Jonah crab, initiated talks this past spring on a formal “fisheries-improvement project” for the species.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a group made up of state fisheries regulators that also manages lobster, has begun the process of formulating a management plan for Jonah crab.
The commission plans to have a draft management plan for the species, which would also cover rock crab, by February in order to be finalized by May.
So far, Gibson said the sense from meetings with scientists, officials and fishermen is that some rules for the crab catch will be necessary.
“The overwhelming sense is, don’t go overboard or do anything Draconian, but we have to get some regulation there,” Gibson said.
Brownish, with large, often black-tipped claws, Jonah crab are most abundant between Georges Bank off of Cape Cod to the North Carolina Outer Banks. They are caught mostly by lobstermen in the same traps used for lobster. The species bears some resemblance to the popular Pacific Dungeness crab and its claws are sometimes used as substitutes for those of stone crab caught in the South.
Spencer said several midshore boats out of the Port of Galilee in Narragansett catch Jonah crab 15 to 30 miles offshore, but the bulk of Rhode Island landings are caught further out, between 60 miles and the edge of the continental shelf.
Point Judith has become a popular landing spot for Jonah crab not only for Rhode Island boats but for some based further southwest.
Unlike lobster, the market for live Jonah crab is small, so most of what is landed is sold to three major processors, including Rome Packing Co. Inc. in East Providence.
Spencer said Jonah crab is fetching about 85 cents per pound, still low compared to $4 per pound for lobster, but an improvement over 50 cents per pound five years ago, especially considering supply has increased.
A report by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said the limited number of processors is likely keeping the price down.
Utilizing the most abundant, wild seafood stocks, instead of relying only on traditional species, has become a goal of many in the industry reacting to environmental changes and population declines.
In some cases that means developing consumer demand for a species, in other cases changing rigid regulatory structures and in others building infrastructure.
The Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation in Narragansett is conducting a pilot program with lobstermen to collect detailed data in their catch – including Jonah crab.
“There’s a lot of doom and gloom out there, but I don’t see it that way,” said Peg Parker, executive director of the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation. “We need to adapt, be well-informed and make sure the infrastructure is there. There is some room for economic-development leaders to take a look at Rhode Island fishing.” •

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