A crab trader in Ayeyarwady Division packs her products for shipping. Pic: Aung Tun Win

THE Department of Fisheries plans to hold a workshop aimed at finding a balance between realising the economic potential of Myanmar’s crab resources while protecting the country’s crustacean population from overexploitation.

The decision to organise the workshop followed a proposal by the Crab Entrepreneurs Association for the department to ease restrictions on the export of small-sized crabs.

The department has banned the export of crabs weighing less than 100 grams since 1996 to help maintain the viability of the crab population.

However, crab traders have complained that buyers from Thailand, which along with China, is one of the main markets for Myanmar crabs, prefer small-sized crabs.

U Tin Hla, the deputy director of the department, said there were no plans to ease export restrictions but admitted that some small crabs were probably being exported illegally to avoid government restrictions.

“Natural resources are the property of the state and we have the duty to conserve them,” Minister of Livestock and Fisheries Brigadier General Maung Maung Thein told members of the Myanmar Fisheries Federation at a meeting earlier this month.

“Since crabs are one of these resources, we must try to protect them from overexploitation and find methods for their sustainable use,” he said.

He said export restrictions put in place by the Department of Fisheries were a sound conservation measure and were essential for the protection of the country’s crab resources.

“By holding a workshop we can assess whether we need to maintain export restrictions and we can work towards finding a way to balance economic and conservation concerns,” he said.

U Khin Maung Aye, the director general of the department, said it was crucial to collect data before making a decision about whether to change the crab export policy.

He said details on the lifecycle and behaviour of crabs should be studied and recorded to learn how to implement comprehensive laws on the sustainable use of the country’s crab resources.

Meanwhile, U Soe Tun Shein, the chairman of the Myanmar Fishery Products Processors and Exporters Association (MFPEA), urged crab traders to focus on the farming of soft-shelled crabs, which are more popular on the global market.

“Rather than trying to sell small crabs to Thailand we should consider setting up soft-shelled crab farms,” he said, adding that most of the crabs weighing 70 to 100 grams sold to Thailand were destined for soft-shelled crab farms in that country.

So far soft-shelled crab farms have been set up only in the Myeik region of Tanintharyi Division. However, in October the Department of Fisheries announced that it would allow farms to be set up in Kyauktan township in Yangon Division.