Sara Barrento sarabarrento@yahoo.com

IPIMAR

3rd Joint Trans-Atlantic Fisheries Technology ConferenceCopenhagen, 15-18 September 2009

Paulo Vaz PiresAntónio Marques Maria Leonor Nunes

Influence of animal physiological condition

Critical points in the trade chain of live crustaceans in Europe

Sara Barrento sarabarrento@yahoo.com

Live crustaceans: a globalized market

Portugal seafood consumption per capita = 57 kg (data from 2003)

Portugal: trade dominated by importation

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Edible crab

Norway lobster

Homarids

Crabs

Spiny lobsters

tons

National capturesImport

Live trade of edible crab in Portugal

Edible crab represents 81%

of crustaceans

live imports

≈ 2000 tons are live traded

70 % supplied by the UK

Up to 50 %

but... mortality is high

Aims

Chracterize the import trade of live edible crab from England to Portugal and measure:

- physical damage and vigour - L-lactate- D-glucose- haemocyanin- and pH in the haemlymph prior to transport, after transport

and during recovery in stocking tanks- seawater dissolved oxygen and pH in transport tanks

Starting point: England

1Weymouth Harbour

- 7 tons of edible crab

- mortality = 30 kg

- unloading: 2

hours

England: crab tagging and sampling

260 crabs tagged (2 h)

Haemolymph sampled: - lactate - glucose - haemocyanin - pH

England: crab vigour checked

3 0 - dead 1 - moribund 2 - weak 3 - healthy 4 - very healthy

Edible crab transport

5

4 700 kg crabs/tank

30 crabs were put in the top

30 crabs were put in the bottom

1 kg/L seawater at 13 ºC without filtration

Transport: 58 h

The arrival: Portugal

Seawater in the transport tank:dissolved oxygen = 2.8 mg.L-1

pH = 7.4

The arrival: Portugal

Setúbal, Portugal

Vigour checked Haemolymph sampled

Of the 60 crabs tagged only one in the top died

6000 tons unloaded (mortality = 1 %)

5

- bottom crabs had more missing limbs than top crabs

- 9 % of males had one missing claw while females had none

- top crabs had higher lactate and lower pH values than bottom crabs

After 58 h of transport Setúbal, Portugal

Vigour checked Haemolymph sampled

Of the 60 crabs tagged only one in the top died

6000 tons unloaded (mortality = 1 %)

- bottom crabs had more missing limbs than top crabs

- 9 % of males had one missing claw while females had none

- top crabs had higher lactate and lower pH values than bottom crabs

Setúbal, Portugal

Vigour checked Haemolymph sampled

Of the 60 crabs tagged only one in the top died

6000 tons unloaded (mortality = 1 %)

- bottom crabs had more missing limbs than top crabs

- 9 % of males had one missing claw while females had none

- top crabs had higher lactate and lower pH values than bottom crabs

Setúbal, Portugal

Vigour checked Haemolymph sampled

Of the 60 crabs tagged only one in the top died

6 tons unloaded (mortality = 1 %)

Recovery in stocking tanks 96 h

6 Recovery at 16 ºC

Vigour checked Haemolymph sampled (6, 24, 48, 72, 96 h)

During recovery crabs continued to loose claws and legs

67 % of moribund crabs died against 6 % of weak crabs

Top crabs 11 %

Bottom crabs 9 %

Mortality

7.0

7.1

7.2

7.3

7.4

7.5

7.6

7.7

C 0 h 58 h 6 h 24 h 48 h 72 h 96 h

pH

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

C 0 h 58 h 6 h 24 h 48 h 72 h 96 h

Glu

cose

mm

ol/L

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

C 0 h 58 h 6 h 24 h 48 h 72 h 96 h

La

cta

te m

mo

l/L

Haemolymph results

Impairment of aerobioses and shift to anaerobic metabolismOnly lactate reached control values

Major critical points

Transport critical points:

- poor handling

- air exposure

- poor water quality

- high animal densities

Consequences:

- missing limbs and claws

- mortality- delayed recovery- economical losses

Conclusions

Immerse transport promotes:

hypoxiaanaerobic metabolismdifferent stress levels between

top and bottom crabsphysical damages

Possible solutions:

semi-dry transport Improve immerse transport:Suppply of oxygen to seawater Implement filtrating systems