While the commercial spider crab season commences in December in time to satisfy Christmas demand, peak period guaranteeing the highest quality and optimal size is February, continuing into March.
In a bid to establish the precise regime for shellfish exploitation in Galicia, Spain’s Ministry of the Sea put in force its 2012 Seafood Operating Plan to ensure the “good management of the resource taking into account available scientific data and advice.”
The plan regulates periods during which various crustaceans can be caught. For spider crab, the provinces of Pontevedra and La Coruña now operate from 3 January to 1 June and 4 November to 31 December, and in the province of Lugo from 3 January to 1 June and 2 to 31 December.
Revealing 2011 statistics, the Junta de Galicia regional government reported that La Coruña fish market — the center of Spain’s crustacean trade — auctioned 36.6 metric tons of spider crab, representing a 74 percent increase from the previous year and resulting in a 14 percent sales revenue increase of EUR 234,000 (USD 300,000) at an average EUR 6.40 (USD 8.17) per kilogram.
Galicia’s global spider crab auction levels rose to 171.3 metric tons last year, 20 percent higher than in 2010, with an average first-sale price of EUR 10 (USD 12.67) per kilogram.
After La Coruña fish market, the Galician auction center trading the most spider crab in 2011 was O Grove with 32.6 metric tons, up on 2010’s 26.3 metric tons, representing EUR 437,000 (USD 554,087) turnover at an average of EUR 13.39 (USD 16.96) per kilogram. Ribeira auction sold 26.8 metric tons at an average EUR 10.20 (USD 12.93) per kilogram, resulting in port revenues exceeding EUR 273,000 (USD 345,900).
The port of Vigo saw a slight drop in volume auctioned from 20 in 2010 to nine last year, lowering revenues from EUR 129,537 (USD 164,146) to EUR 112,289 (USD 142,285), averaging EUR 12.37 (USD 15.67) per kilogram.
Vilaxoán auctioned off Galicia ports’ highest average spider crab price over 1 kilogram at EUR 36.75 (USD 46.57).
At press time, Galicia-based Pesca Marisco quoted spider crab prices at EUR 15 (USD 19) per kilogram for sizes ranging from 800 grams to 1 kilogram; the price of Vigo River spider crab fell from EUR 61 (USD 78) to EUR 55 (USD 70) per kilogram.
Caught in three principal Spanish locations — off the northeast Atlantic coast of Galicia, in the Cantabrian Sea at the southern end of the Bay of Biscay, as well as from the Mediterranean — spiny-shelled spider crab (Maja squinado), or centollo, is one of the largest short-bodied crustaceans, generally measuring around 20 centimeters, in contrast to its cousin, the giant Japanese spider crab, which measures up to 4 meters.
