Mud Crab Hatchery to be Established in Maharashtra

With an aim to boost India’s seafood production, a hatchery for the mud crabs will soon be set up in Maharashtra. For this, the Marine Products Export Development Authority is ready to support the facility in Sindhudurg district.

RGCA or the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture under MPEDA (Marine Products Export Development Authority) will provide technical assistance to the hatchery with a yearly production capacity of 10 lakh mud crabs. The facility will be established in Vengurula taluk of the Konkan region.

The hatchery - 500 km south of Mumbai will provide added livelihood to the fisher-folk without hurting the ecosystem. It will be constructed at the swampy Vageshwer village, which is well-known for its mangrove forest and is the ideal home of the mud crab.

The move to set up the facility comes following a surge in demand for the mud crab (Scylla serrata) in the domestic as well as international seafood markets. It must be noted that the mud crab has high market value and it’s because of its robust size dense meat, flavor, nutritive value & texture.

The upcoming facility will nurture and raise crabs to juveniles of profitable size by fattening them in an eco friendly pond. The hatchery will also abide by the standards set by the RGCA in Tamil Nadu, which is a research & development section of the MPEDA that manages or coordinates fishery production & related activities between the central and State government establishments.