Survey on Crab Gill Net Fishery for Development of Community Economics at Wonnapha Beach, Chonburi Province

Abstract

This study is a survey on Crab Gill Net Fisheries for Development of Community Economics at Wonnapha Beach, Chonburi Province, Thailand. It aims to analyze fishing characteristics which are compositions and sizes of aquatic species including blue swimming crab by using crab gill nets.

The study was done by interviewing fishermen and sampling aquatic animals from crab gill nets from October 2017 to September 2018. The results showed that the most fishermen used crab gill nets with long-tail speed boats with an internal engine and also used nets ranging from 2,160 to 7,200 m in length. The average crab caught was 0.10 kg for every 100 m of net length with maximum catch of 0.16 kg within 100 m of net length. There were 22 species found in the net with the dominant species being blue swimming crab which accounted for 76.02% by number and 78.53% by weight Blue swimming crab carapace-widths ranged from 5.52 - 14.00 cm with an average of 9.83 and 9. 84 cm for male and female, respectively. On average, 1.38 to 7.00 kg of blue swimming crabs were caught per person. In summary, 130 fishermen using crab gill nets captured around 201,018 tons of aquatic animals per year with a monthly average of 16.75 tons.