With blue swimmer crab season now underway in Perth and the south west, we’re calling on crabbers to keep an eye out for crabs with yellow research tags.
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development crab researchers are collecting information about crab movement both within and between the estuaries and nearshore coastal embayments in Perth and the south west.
Crabs have been tagged in Geographe Bay, Leschenault Estuary, Bunbury Harbour, between Bunbury and Mandurah, Peel-Harvey Estuary, Comet Bay, Cockburn and Warnbro Sounds, and the Swan and Canning Rivers.
Crab fishers in those areas are asked to look for crabs tagged with a yellow glue-on tag attached to the crab’s carapace, a T-bar tag inserted into the muscle between the right swimmeret and the carapace, or both tags.
If you catch a tagged crab, please record the details below and report it via the phone number on the tag, by sms to 0427 988 220, via the Fisheries WA Facebook Messenger account, or via the FISHTAGWA app.
The information you need to report is:
• the tag number/s
• crab’s carapace width (to the nearest mm)
• capture location (GPS coordinates if available)
• depth at capture location
• method of capture
• if you kept or released the crab.
Leave your contact details and we will send you a small reward!
The details collected will provide valuable information about crab movements and will help inform blue swimmer crab management policies towards ensuring crab stocks remain sustainable into the future.