PNG MARINE INDUSTRY: MUD CRABS

 

The crab trainees by the mangroves on Paho Island, South Fly, Western Province of Papua New Guinea. Picture by JOHN SAMAR

'FATTEN THOSE MUDDIES'

By John Samar

Twenty one young men and women from  four villages in the South Fly District have completed a two day training on mud crab fattening at Paho Island near Mabaduan in the South Fly District. 

The course started on Wednesday, July 13 and ended on Thursday afternoon July 14.

The trainees consisted of five from Katatai, four from Sibidiri, five from Buzi, and five from Masingara village. 

Two participants from Ok Tedi Development Foundation (OTDF) Ms Josephine Laka, and Ms Komane Sipi, the vice President for the Kiwaba Women’s & Children's Association in the Kiwaba region of South Fly of the Western Province also attended.

INLOC had engaged GSM to provide the training and it funded it for the trainees from the four villages that are covered under their Border Treaty Resilience Program funded by AUSAID.

The course was conducted by a local SME, Grangle Seafood Marketing, (GSM) a 100% nationally owned SME that specializes in providing mud crab farming training for local farmers in Papua New Guinea. 

The trainers were; Mr Gabriel Apita, Principal trainer, assisted by Bernard Magaru, Managing Director of GSM, and John Samar, Marketing Manager. 

GSM has provided training for Mudcrab farmers in Hula, and Biotou both in the Central Province.

Ms Cathy Karulaka of Masingara about to place a mud crab into one of the newly purchased baskets.  Picture by John Samar of Grankle Seafood Marketing

The Trainees will now use 500 plastic mud crab baskets purchased from the Philippines to fatten mud crabs that will be sold later to both the local and overseas markets. 

The modern baskets were purchased by INLOC based on technical advice from GSM.

The intensive 2 - day course covered such subjects as: catching of juvenile crabs for farming, and fattening and processing of mature mud crabs for sale both locally and overseas.

The training also covered identifying of the various mud crab species present in mangrove swamps in the South Fly District of Western Province.

Emphasis was also given to the importance of conserving the mud crab populations in the mangrove swamps for a sustainable mud crab industry in the future.

Out of the 14 maritime provinces in the country, only New Ireland, Milne Bay, Central, Gulf, and Western Province are known to be supplying a limited quantity of mud crabs from the wild to the Asian mud crab buyers who export mainly to Singapore, Hong Kong and China.

In 2019 alone, statistics indicated that PNG exported more than 500 tons of live mud crabs to Singapore, and Hong Kong alone. 

It was estimated that the value of the exports was K110 Million. Unfortunately, this figure has dropped due to the Covid-19 epidemic that has disrupted the export of mud crabs in the last 3 years.

Rural coastal communities who are interested in this training can contact FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL JOHN SAMAR ON 71377603. BERNARD MAGARU ON 75506001, AND GABRIEL APITA ON 7843 6731