The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1961-09-15
CRABS
Continued from Page One,

dragger.
when dragging for crabs the
nets often bring in fish and snrimp
as we'll Later the catch is separat-
and these are sold to fish houses
while the crab catch is sent to
processing plant. Usually crabbers
do not work further than five miles
from shore.
Once the crabs are received at q
processing plant they must pc
moved Immediately. The CRAPS
to be processed must De
either cooked or put on ice quickiy'
Those shipped to plants away from
the area must be packed in ice ana
sbipped almost within a few MIN
utas after arrival at the dock since
the crabs will only keep for about
five or six hours.
Inside the plant the crabs are
steamed in huge watts and picked !.
The picking process is tedious one
and must be done by hand. In pick
ING a crab, one must first break
off his claws. These are broken
omen and the sweet, dark claw
meat is picked out. Then the body
is broken open to obtain the large
white chunks of white meat in the
lower body. :
/ From a 100 pound barrel of fresh
/ crabs the pickers will get an aver
age of IL pounds of meat. OF this
I12 pounds about four pounds is
lump. or choice backfin sections.
| Six pounds is regular and two
pounds of the meat comes from the
dark claw sections. To get this
meat the professor must pay, pre-
|sently, about three cents per pound
j for the crabs. Then he. in addition
Ito furnishing equipment and pro-
Icessing facilities, must pay from
20 to Is cents per pound to get it
picked. In good season a process
sing plant should realize approxi-
mately a ten percent margin OF
profit.
When, however, almost 80 per-
Icent of an industry's raw material
is turned to waste, the slightest diff
ference in the amount saved can
make a large difference in profits.
.lIf a barrel Of crabs, in this case,
picks only 10 pounds the professor
BARELY breaks even. On the other
hand if the crabs pick good and will
average Ia pounds of meat per 100
pounds of crabs the professor will
realize good profit. Presently
Iprocessed crab meat sells for an ap-
proximate average of 20 cents pei
4 pound. "A
A crabber can make a profit Of
from six to 20 dollars per day
catching and selling crabs. His
profit will, Of course, depend or
the number Of quality of crabs he
catches. Pickers make from % tt
60 dollars per week. They are paie
by the pound for the meat they
pick.
About half the crabs being pro
cessed now are taken by line and
about half of them are being takei
from pots. Later in the season par
ty fishing boats and Commercial
fishermen will begin dragging fol
crabs as their regular seasona
work begins to decline.
A potter usually works about 81
pots and must check them daily
Some pots have taken as high al
100 crabs and some have beel
! found empty. An average catch il
each pot is about 20 to 30 crabs
Presently, crabs are selling TO
, three cents per pound. An averag'
! crab weights about 1/3 pound, 81
> they are actually worth about on
Ieent each.
Q Local crabbers have complains
g of low prices this season. This !
s because excellent catches in tn
: area have flooded the market max
I ing the price fall slightly. Process
3 lsers say, however, the crab indus
try is on the rise, as it has BEEF
e for about 10 years. Many of then
s have complained that they can no
al find enough labor to process a
e much meat as they can sell. On
= crab professor stated he could us
70 more nicIeru This saaeon TIL