Influence of cooking, refrigeration, and freezing on size of blue swimmer crabs, Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Abstract

Shrinkage of crustaceans as a result of cooking and processing is an enforcement problem for fisheries management agencies throughout the world when size is regulated. Here we show that the carapace of blue swimmer crabs, Portunus pelagicus shrinks as a result of various cooking and processing practices, however, this shrinkage is marginal. There is only a 5% chance that a crab that was 15 cm (current minimum legal size) when first caught would decrease by more than 0.9 mm as a result of common cooking and processing practices. Fisheries compliance agencies should, therefore, build in a small degree of measurement tolerance (1 mm) in their enforcement of the size regulations for this species.