Crab, brown or edible | Good Fish Guide | The consumer guide to sustainable seafood

Common name - Crab, brown or edible

Scientific name - Cancer pagurus

Average rating

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Summary

There is no formal assessment of crab stocks and the only information available comes from industry data which can be unreliable at times, due to under-recording of effort and landings. Regulations for recording catch were introduced in 2006 for boats under 10m, which is encouraging in order to improve our knowledge of the fishery, but there are still large gaps in the data for boats larger than 10m, and it will be several years before enough data is gathered to gain a good understanding of the trends in landings. Avoid eating crabs below the minimum landing size (13 -14cm in most areas of the UK) and crab claws, unless it is certain they have been removed after landing. Egg-bearing or "berried" females should be avoided at all times to allow them to spawn. The vast majority of brown crabs in the UK are caught by potting which is a low impact and relatively selective method of fishing - any bycatch or discards can be returned alive with high survival rates. The UK Brown crab fishery requires comprehensive stock assessment and more comprehensive management, with either effort or catch regulations, in order for it to be sustainable in the long term.

Alternatives

(Based on method of production, fish type, and consumer rating: only fish rated 3 and below are included.)

Crab, brown or edible
Crab, spider
Lobster, European
Norway Lobster, Langoustine, Dublin Bay prawn or scampi
Prawn, northern
Shrimp, brown or common

Visit Fishonline, the website for the seafood industry, for more detailed information about this species.