Fishery characteristics and abundance estimates of the mangrove crab Scylla serrata in southern Tanzania and northern Moçambique

Abstract

The mud crab Scylla serrata is lightly exploited along the East African seaboard. This study reports on fishing practices and gives preliminary estimates of abundance and size structures of the mud crab populations in Utende, Chole Island and Juani Island, Tanzania, and west of Quirimba and Ibo Island, Moçambique. Estimates for three mangrove habitats (in Tanzania); open channel (<1 per 25 m²), mangrove fringe (3 per 25 m²) and inner forest (1 per 25 m²) were obtained using burrow density and from burrow occupancy from fisheries data. Mud crabs from Tanzania were significantly smaller (carapace width) and less abundant (in terms of mass) than those from Moçambique. This newly exploited resource provides a potential alternative source of income, but local management and monitoring plans need to be implemented early.

Keywords: abundance, fisheries, Moçambique, mud crabs, Tanzania

African Journal of Marine Science 2002, 24: 19–25