This year's Mid-Autumn Festival is brought forward to September 10th. Compared with the fishing period that only matures in the middle and late September of the past year, the hairy crabs have generally not "shelled", so the consumption scene of drinking wine and watching the moon will be missed perfectly.
More industry insiders predict that due to the rare continuous high temperature in Jiangsu and Zhejiang this year, it will bring a real "roast" to the crab breeding industry. At the same time, the substantial increase in breeding costs has also made high-quality crabs face the embarrassing situation of high prices and few goods this year.
The water surface temperature exceeds 35°C
Hairy crabs start fighting high temperature mode
This summer, the high temperature in many parts of the country has broken historical records. Recently, the temperature in Suzhou, Wuxi, Gaoyou and Xinghua, the main producing areas of hairy crabs in Jiangsu, has continued to reach above 39°C. , is undoubtedly a severe life and death test.
The hairy crabs cultivated in the lake have extremely high requirements on the natural environment of the waters, but the high temperature weather on the one hand makes the water in the lake evaporate quickly, causing the hairy crabs to die of severe hypoxia, on the other hand, the extreme high temperature causes the lake environment to cause floating algae. "Eutrophic" state can easily affect the growth of aquatic plants, resulting in a shortage of hairy crabs' food chain.
"This year, during several shelling processes, the mortality rate of hairy crabs is much higher than in previous years. Therefore, when the hairy crabs are listed in late September, the price of high-quality crabs will definitely rise." Wuxi Jiangyin Jiatian Hairy Crab Farm The crab farmer Zhu Yandi's family has been engaged in crab farming for decades. She said that this year is a particularly difficult year for hairy crab farming. From the weather conditions, there is a fireball burning in the air every day, and the hot outdoor air is suffocating. Under such high temperature, it is extremely hard to work under the scorching sun by pulling weeds, changing the bottom, feeding and increasing oxygen, so the cost of local labor has increased by 20%.
It is understood that crab farmers in Jiangsu area guard day and night in the simple shed built next to the crab breeding pond, checking whether the crabs have landed due to lack of oxygen at any time. Once found, they must add oxygen to the lake in time. Can't sleep peacefully.
Another crab farmer, Jiang Yun, told a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily that the water level of standardized breeding ponds is around 80 cm to 1 meter. Due to the continuous high temperature recently, the pond water has been exposed to the sun. Once the water temperature exceeds 35 °C, the hairy crabs will stop eating.
Therefore, the best remedy is to increase the water level, and the other is to improve the bottom of the pond to prevent it from being polluted by crab excrement and hydrogen sulfide.
Zhu Yandi said that he currently farms more than 200 acres of hairy crabs, of which 100 acres are pond crabs. If corresponding emergency measures are not taken, it is very likely that large areas of hairy crabs will die.
"In shallow water, if some crabs are not in good health, they will surely die. So we continue to oxygenate and release water in the pond these days. Otherwise, the temperature will be higher and higher just like boiling water."
"The power consumption cost of oxygenating the lake this year has also hit a record high. If you don't use oxygen, the crabs can't stand it." Zhu Yandi introduced, "Our masters have more than 20 years of experience. At the same time, it is necessary to remove the silt, or replace the silt at the bottom of the river, so as to make the aquatic plants grow better, so that the hairy crabs hiding in the aquatic plants will not suffer from the high temperature and heat."
High-quality hairy crabs this year
Prices likely to rise
Hairy crabs go through 5 moltings in their lifetime, and each time they molt, the crabs will grow a circle.
In mid-August every year, the last molting period of hairy crabs begins. Only when this molting is successfully completed can they be considered as crabs.
How big of a crab can be harvested by a crab farmer who has worked hard for a year, just depends on this time.
The persistent high temperature also makes Yangcheng East Lake farmer Xia Gennan faintly worried. People are too lazy to move in hot weather, and crabs eat less in hot weather. Many crab farmers are worried that hairy crabs will struggle to shed their shells, and adult crabs will be smaller than last year.
According to his experience, it is said that the female crabs should have started to molt one after another at this time, and the male crabs will be 15-20 days later. He has come to the lake every day to guard the crabs these days. be lazy.
In addition, under the high temperature this year, hairy crabs show signs of delayed molting.
Lao Xia said, "This year, the crab shells molt late. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the crab shells haven't completely hardened, and the soft shell crabs died when they came out of the water. I worked hard for half a year and it was all in vain!"
What changes will the harsh farming state bring to the price of hairy crabs this year?
Many crab farmers said that the rising cost of breeding is obvious to all, and the difficulty of breeding is much greater than in previous years.
In addition, in addition to the impact of high temperature on the production of crabs, this year, some production areas in the south have returned to ponds for farming, and the production of crabs has decreased accordingly. In addition, the cost of breeding feed is also rising.
Many farmers said that the hairy crabs are currently in the fifth molting period, and it is not easy to predict the final listing price. "If the weather eases soon, it will be better, but the price of high-quality hairy crabs will increase by at least 20%.
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Yangcheng Lake has not been caught yet
Crab cards are on sale
According to the practice of the Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crab Association, a day will be selected in late September every year, and the fishing will start at the same time to ensure that the Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs will be caught and listed on the same day. No release date for this year has been announced.
Although the crab is still tender, the crab card sales war has already started online and offline.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily visited Sam, Carrefour, BHG and other supermarkets recently and saw that the pre-sale of hairy crab coupons has already begun.
An old shop in Yangcheng Lake, located at the southeast corner of Fangzhuang Bridge on the South Third Ring Road in Beijing, opened its doors in early August.
Although the showcase is empty and there is not a single crab, crab cards at various price points are already on sale in the store. Even the ginger tea, crab vinegar, crab tools, and express incubators with crabs have been displayed. The "crab" tastes full. , just waiting for the protagonist to appear.
This Yangcheng Lake hairy crab franchise store has been in business for 19 years. The owner, Ms. Shang, witnessed the changes in the sales model of hairy crabs in Beijing.
From the beginning, customers only accepted the spot goods, and would rather wait in line for two or three hours in the store. Later, the sales model of crab cards appeared, and the logistics improvement realized the accurate distribution of fresh food. Now, various online platforms have further expanded. Physical store sales.
"As a physical store that has been operating for many years, our first order this year was actually obtained from the takeaway platform." Ms. Shang said, although it is a little regretful that Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs were absent from the Mid-Autumn Festival reunion banquet this year, she is concerned about the breeding situation every day, " Good crabs are not afraid of being late, and don’t be in a hurry these days. You have to wait until the crabs are mature before customers can have a good experience.”