This year, North Sea crabs have become expensive and rare. Fishermen are now catching more and prices are falling. Soon, crabs could even be available in discount stores again.
After there were hardly any crabs in the spring and summer and correspondingly high consumer prices, experts are expecting a turnaround soon. Crab catches increased again in August, especially in the Netherlands, but also off the coast of Lower Saxony, said Philipp Oberdörffer, fisheries expert at the Lower Saxony Chamber of Agriculture in Oldenburg. Producer prices have already fallen significantly. “A few months ago, fishermen were still getting ten euros for a kilogram of shelled crabs, currently it is five euros,” said Oberdörffer.
Crabs in discount stores again soon?
It will take a while before the lower prices reach consumers. “First the meat has to be peeled,” he said. North Sea crabs are mainly processed in Morocco. He is convinced that as soon as more goods can be offered, discounters will also start selling crabs again. They had removed the shellfish from their range “because there wasn’t enough,” Oberdörffer said. Some restaurants in the north also dispensed with crab dishes or only served small quantities. Others increased prices; in some places a crab sandwich cost up to 15 euros.
Fishermen in Schleswig-Holstein have less in their nets
Compared to Lower Saxony, catches off the Schleswig-Holstein coast in August were significantly lower. “We observed this last year too. September and October saved the season for the fishermen in Schleswig-Holstein,” said Oberdörffer. In 2023, German shrimp fishermen landed almost 6,000 tons. In the years 2000 to 2015, the average was around twice as much.
Source: Stern
