Be kind to crabs
by Steve Xoh

In early September I decided to do a last minute road trip with Poppy the dog. Due to life circumstances and my flat’s lease not permitting pets I don’t get to see her much any more, so when I spotted a discounted Aribnb cancellation to stay in a beach hut right by the sea I jumped at the opportunity. Poppy and I had an amazing 36 hours there. We lay on the beach, swam, played silly chasing games and snoozed and flopped like contented seals with the sound of crashing waves underscoring the whole experience. We also watched the harvest moon rise and eclipse over a beautifully dark and inky sea.

The next morning we went looking for crabs together. If you’ve read previous issues you probably know that crabs are one of my favourite creatures and have been since I was a kid. Living in London I don’t get to see them very often (especially since the jackdaws stole my shell collection) so any time I am near the sea I get ridiculously excited about catching a glimpse of my beloved decapods. Often I will just observe a rock pool or I might use a net with some bacon in it to lure them out and marvel at their beauty. I go out of my way to treat them with respect and care and dignity. If I do pick them up for a closer look I do so gently and ensure that I pay them glowing compliments before returning them to where I found them.

It makes me really sad when I see people treating crabs badly. I abhor the mistreatment of any creature but there is something in particular about crabs. I think it might be the general lack of understanding or interest or knowledge about crabs that most people have. Or that because crabs aren’t cute and fluffy they are perceived as a lower-order species that don’t need as much care and consideration - closer to a walking rock than a sentient being. Or maybe it is because crab fishing is a tradition that is passed on between generations without anyone really stopping to think “I wonder how the creatures are feeling about all of this?” (In a similar way to the tradition of feeding bread to birds.)

I had all of this on my mind when Poppy and I went for a walk to a local harbour and observed groups of people crab fishing and doing things that I know distress the crabs. (Like having a bucket full of around 10-20 crabs, throwing them back into the water from a great height, keeping the bucket in direct sunlight - I could go on.) I also got annoyed by a parent confidently telling a group of kids that crabs are amphibians and can breathe on land just like frogs! (Crabs are crustaceans and have gills under their carapace just like fish.)

I realised that this was starting to feel like a bit of an intense experience for me - a combination of my ethics about creatures mixing with a very specialised and almost obsessive special interest in crabs, all topped off with a general social awkwardness. I really wanted to talk to these people. To tell them some crab facts and how they could be kinder and more considerate of these creature’s needs. But as always in these kind of situations I just cannot fathom out how to do it without coming across either as aggressive/angry or like some sort of lunatic. I was extra paralysed by how many people were crab fishing. There were around 10 groups, each with between 2-5 humans and a big bucket of stressed out crabs. I thought maybe I could stand on a bench and make an announcement. Shouting out some crab facts and care tips like a carcinologist town crier. I imagined making a placard or wearing a sandwich board and having leaflets. Maybe dressing up as a crab in order to show that I meant it all in a friendly and educational way.

In the end I did what I always do and just let my emotions gnaw away inside of me, did nothing and left with a crab-shaped sadness in my heart. A frustration at my inaction and a vague hope that the heavy rain looming on the horizon would encourage the humans to leave very soon.

What I did do was make a little zine about ethical crab fishing when I got home which made me feel better. I think I will make some copies of it to take with me and hand out next time I go to such a place. That way I can disseminate the information and flee before anyone tries to interact with me! (If you’d like to support the cause you can print off your own copy of the zine here.)