The mud crab fishery in the northern half of Australia is a relatively low production fishery, with a high market value of product. There is little opportunity to increase catch volume for the resource to remain sustainable, hence full revenue potential from the fishery must be realised for the industry to remain successful.

The viability of the mud crab fishery depends solely on the live seafood market with dead or ‘slow’ crab unable to be sold. Currently, post-harvest mortalities of animals through the supply chain are limiting the sustainable use of the mud crab resource. Losses due to mortality can be unacceptably high, varying between 4-10% dependent on season and transport delays. This accounts for a loss in excess of 60 tonnes of crab annually with a value of $1 million. In extreme circumstances due to operational breakdowns, there have reportedly been post-harvest mortality rates of up to 35%. Such loss not only negates the viability of the vertical supply chain, but also confers perceptional lack of responsibility to the sustainable use of the resource by industry members.

High mortality rates in mud crab can be minimised through development of appropriate, practical and cost-effective post-handling procedures along the harvest-to-market supply chain. This project proposed here seeks to achieve this.

The NT Crab Fishermen’s Association has purported the urgency for this issue to be addressed for some years and the need for the work proposed is identified in the NT Strategic Plan for Fisheries Research and Development 2002 (Draft, section 5.2 Mud crabs, Fishery Resources - optimum utilisation). The project seeks to build on the Industry Code of Practice.