Inland storage of crawfish and lobsters

Abstract

Numerous problems occur in the handling and transport of large live crustaceans. The experienced buyer will become familiar with these difficulties over a period of years and will know how best to surmount them in practice. Often, however, the precise cause of the problems is either not known or not appreciated. Satisfactory storage can be achieved by experience alone but a biological appreciation of the precise conditions required for storage of lobsters and crawfish will be most beneficial to the industry, and particularly to those persons entering it for the first time. With this in mind Fisheries Division has been carrying out investigations in this field, and work was advanced rapidly in 1973 by the availability of a research field station at Dunmore East, Co Waterford. A detailed biological study of the storage behaviour of crawfish based on experiments is being undertaken at this station. Meanwhile this Leaflet has been written to give some preliminary results of these investigations, and also to describe one practical commercial result based on early findings.