Overview
Mud crab aquaculture has been practised for many years in Southeast Asia, based primarily on capture and fattening of juvenile crabs from the wild. There is an unmet demand for mud crabs and this has led to over-exploitation in many areas. Difficulties with obtaining wild caught juveniles for farming operations, plus concerns of further over-exploitation, have led to major investments in research into hatchery techniques. To review mud crab aquaculture in Australia and Southeast Asia, ACIAR funded a scoping study, followed by a workshop to review the study and discuss status and problems in different regions. Those results are presented in this report.