Fishers seasonally move fishing gear between offshore and inshore areas to target crab but detail is lacking on fine-scale movements and the movements of individual crab. Information is also missing on the movement of crab between Northern Irish and adjoining waters which may have different management measures.
Fishers seasonally move fishing gear between offshore and inshore areas to target crab, but detail is lacking on fine-scale movements and the movements of individual crabs. Information is also missing on the movement of crab between Northern Irish and adjoining waters which may have different management measures.
To address these data gaps, AFBI will be starting to tag crabs. The cable tie tags to be used have a unique identification number so, when recaptured, details can be gathered on how far the crab has travelled from the tagging site to the recapture site. These details can highlight if stocks are spatially separate or mixed which can be incorporated into management decisions.
The Northern Ireland Fishermen’s Federation have provided a prize for this work to encourage the return of recapture details. Each fisher who provides details of a recaptured tagged crab will be entered into a draw for the prize.