The Vice Ministry of Aquaculture and Fisheries (MAGAP) has amended Article 1 of the Ministerial Agreement N º. 016, in regard to the duration of the ban on red and blue crab fishing.
A new closed season for red crab from 1 to 31 March, 2014 was established and a blue cran ban from 15 January to 15 February 2014 is maintained.
The Director of Fisheries Control, Molke Mendoza announced that the ban will prevent crab from being overfished and allows for the normal reproduction of these species.
He added that the National Fisheries Institute (INP) submitted its recommendations for changing the closed season through a study of the reproductive aspects of red crab.
The purpose was to identify the maximum spawning period, estimate the average size of morphological and physiological sexual maturity for both sexes, and determine the fertility size classes of berried females.
