QUANG NAM – Dropping 800 cages into the sea in the morning, the group of fishermen took advantage of rest before collecting the cages at 19:00, earning 100 kg of crabs.

In mid-April, the waters across Quang Nam were calm. The 30 CV boat, led by Mr. Le Duy Chin (49 years old, living in Tam Thanh commune, Tam Ky city) as the captain, left Tam Tien commune, Nui Thanh district, to go fishing. At about 10:00 a.m., Captain Nine steered the ship to the north, and the two crewmen on the deck began to release the cages.

The cage is made of sta eel frame, 60 cm long, 40 cm wide, 15 cm high, surrounded by netting, the price is about 80,000 VND each. Inside the cage is tilapia fish that the fishermen put in as bait. The cage has a door for the crabs to get in easily but not to get out.

Mr. Bui Van Nhan, 36 years old, wears tight clothes to avoid the sun when releasing the cage into the sea. He said the ship has 800 cages tied to a rope and dropped into the sea, the distance between the two cages is 20 meters. These cages create a long line lying on the seabed for 14 km, 500 m from the shore. “From 14:00 to 19:00, crabs go out to eat, so they can catch a lot if they release them at this time,” Mr. Nhan explained.

After nearly 3 hours, the group of fishermen finished releasing the cage and anchored the ship in the middle of the sea. They had lunch, took advantage of sleeping until 19:00, then woke up to start the engine, and light up the cage. The captain steers the ship, and controls the pulley to raise the cage; One person opens the cage to take the crabs and pour them into the basket and the other uses rubber bands to tie the crab’s legs.

Fishermen worked continuously for 3-4 hours to collect all the released cages.

Mr. Chin said that 7 years ago when fishing in the southern sea, he learned the craft of releasing crabs in cages. He invested 300 million dong to buy back the old ship to repair and buy a practice cage.

A cage has 8 crabs in. According to the captain, this profession is lucky, with cages of more than one kilogram, but many cages have no children. When the sea is rough, you can catch a lot, when the sea is calm, you can catch less.

Mr. Le Thanh Long, 26 years old, opened the cage and poured the crabs into the basket. The process of collecting the cage came into contact with water, so his body was soaked. If you want to do this job, you have to stay up at night and withstand the waves.

After tying the legs, the crabs are put in a plastic drum, filled with water and aerated with oxygen so as not to die.

When he caught many small crabs, Mr. Nhan released them back into the sea.

At 2 a.m. the next day, when the cage collection was completed, the three fishermen weighed about 100 kg of crabs. They let the ship dock to go ashore to sell.

Crab is bought by traders at 50,000 VND per kg, Mr. Chin’s boat collects 5 million VND. “Except for 500,000 VND for oil, 500,000 VND for tilapia as bait and 200,000 for meals, you still get 3.8 million VND”, Mr. Chin calculated and said the amount was divided into 40% of the boat owner and labor. 60%.

Three-dotted crab (moon crab) has three round dots on its back. This type is small, with little meat, the nutritional value is not as high as green and red crabs, so the price is cheap. Crab can be processed into dishes such as steamed, grilled, roasted with salt, roasted with tamarind, chili sauce, cooked soup…

 (According to vnexpress )