[Photos] Catching fiddler crabs in An Thanh

Visitors to An Thanh commune these days will have a chance to catch, cook, and enjoy fiddler crabs.

Uncommon dishes made from fiddler crabs are rustic but very delicious.

“Fiddler crabs have contributed to improving the life of my family and other farmers,” said Pham Thi Men in An Thanh commune


An Thanh commune is the largest vat of fiddler crabs in Hai Duong province with more than 137 ha of organic rice land by the Thai Binh river and over 100 ha of fields available for exploitation of this specialty


Fiddler crabs in An Thanh can be exploited from March to October, with the main harvest season lasting from May to July


It is easy to catch fiddler crabs. Farmers get up at 5 am to roast and mix rice bran with shrimp paste and water to create bait, which is then applied around the inner mouth of beveled plastic bottles. The bottles are placed vertically at the edge of fields, about 70cm from each other, as traps


Fiddler crabs, lured by the bait’s aroma, crawl into the plastic bottles to eat the bait but cannot go out because the bottles are very slippery


After about three hours, farmers collect the bottles and pour caught fiddler crabs into a plastic bucket


An Thanh fiddler crabs are big and stocky this time of year, many of which even carry eggs


Each hectare of organic rice land (free from plant protection products and herbicides) in An Thanh commune yields about one ton of fiddler crabs/ season. This way of rice cultivation provides a suitable environment for the reproduction and growth of fiddler crabs


All fiddler crabs caught by An Thanh farmers are purchased by traders on the spot for 100,000 VND/ kg on average

TIEN MANH