About 100,000 juvenile flower crabs on Thursday were released off Penghu County’s Dacang (大倉) islet by the local branch of the Fisheries Research Institute.
The release of the young crabs, about 1cm wide, seeks to address a significant decline in their population amid overfishing.
Adult crabs are easy to catch and process, and are regarded as a delicacy, which makes them profitable for commercial fishers.
Photo courtesy of the Penghu Marine Biology Research Center
To tackle the overfishing problem, the institute has been releasing hundreds of thousands of juvenile crabs off Penghu every year. It has also sought to improve and expand their habitat by restoring the marine environment.
Institute director Justin Hsieh (謝恆毅) said the branch has planted seagrass of the Halodule uninervis, Nanozostera japonica, Halophila ovalis and other species on 5,000m2 of seabed off Penghu, helping crabs hide from predators.
The seagrass bed is rich in organic detritus, and small animals such as skeleton shrimps and juvenile mollusks feed on epiphytic algae growing on its leaves, he said, adding that juvenile crabs feed on those small animals.
The releases have been welcomed by local residents concerned about the decline in crab populations near Penghu.
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