Quinn, N.J.

Aquatic Commons

Montego Bay to Ocho Rios in One Hour at the  
Cost of Essential Fish Habitat 
 
NORMAN JOHN QUINN 
Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory 
University of the West Indies 
Discovery Bay, St. Ann 
Jamaica 
 
 
ABSTRACT 
Between March and August an estimated million land crabs (Cardisoma 
guanhumi) leave their burrows and become subject to one of Jamaica’s most 
socially universal fishery. Boys, women and men search at night with flaming 
torches for crabs which are caught by hand. The fishery requires no boats, no 
seamanship skills and no special equipment, only a bag, some twine, a glass 
bottle, kerosene and a rag. The typical catch during a “fishing trip” of 2-4 hrs is 
18-80 crabs by a group of 2-7 people. The crabs are caught along roads 
bordering low lying coastal areas and wetlands. They are sold along the road 
alive for about $J500 to $800 for about a dozen crabs. The net value to a single 
fisher is higher than typical fin fishers who must venture out for longer periods 
with a higher capital investment to catch dwindling catches. The crabs can 
reach 13 cm in carapace width, but the mean size measured 7.3cm. Females are 
smaller and more are required to make a saleable bundle. Until the construction 
of the north coast highway in 2002 linking Montego Bay with the northern 
Jamaican tourist destination town of Ocho Rios there were was no sign of 
declining catches. The completion of the road will see the development of a 
modern, paved road replacing the narrow, winding and pot holed road that 
previous served the area. Transit time between the Montego Bay airport and 
Ocho Rios will be cut in half. Already the fishers are reporting it is harder to 
find crabs as there is less essential habitat as the construction of the road 
further destroys mangrove communities, shore line habitats, wetlands and 
essential habitat for the land crab. This fishery represents another example how 
valuable natural resources are being destroyed thereby shifting economic value 
to another sector of society. 
 
KEY WORDS:  Land crabs, Cardisoma guanhumi, Jamaica 
 
Montego Bay a Ocho Ríos en Una Hora a  
Expensas del Hábitat Esencial del Cangrejo   
 
Se estima que entre los meses de marzo y agosto alrededor de un millón de 
cangrejos abandonan sus cuevas para ser expuestos a una de las pesquerías más 
sociales en Jamaica.  Niños, mujeres y hombres se dedican a buscar cangrejos 
(Cardisoma guanhumi) durante la noche con antorchas de fuego, a los cuales 
capturan con sus manos.  Esta pesca no requiere embarcación o equipo 
especial, ni destrezas o conocimiento en navegación, tan solo se necesita un 
Page 694                 57th Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute  
 
saco o bolsa, alambre, una botella de cristal, queroseno y un pedazo de tela.  La 
captura típica durante un “viaje de pesca” que dure de 2 a 4 horas,  por un 
grupo compuesto de 2 a 7 personas es de18 a 80 cangrejos.  Los cangrejos son 
capturados en los caminos que bordean áreas costeras bajas y en áreas 
pantanosas.  Los mismos son vendidos vivos en los caminos o carreteras a un 
precio entre  J$500 y $J800 la docena.  El valor neto para un pescador de 
cangrejo es mayor que para un típico pescador de peces de aleta, el cual se 
tiene que aventurar al mar por un período de tiempo mas largo y hacer una 
inversión mayor para poder pescar.  El cangrejo puede alcanzar 14 centímetros 
de ancho en su caparazón, pero la mayoría de los cangrejos capturados tenían 
una medida aproximada de 9.1 centímetros hombres.  Los pescadores dicen 
que la pesca de cangrejo era estable antes de la construcción de la carretera en 
la costa norte que une a Mongeto Bay con Ocho Ríos, destino turístico en el 
norte de Jamaica, en el año 2002.  Al completar este proyecto de construcción 
se contará con una moderna carretera pavimentada la cual reemplazará el 
camino angosto de tierra lleno de hoyos que existía anteriormente.  El tiempo 
de recorrido entre el aeropuerto de Montego y Ocho Ríos se reducirá a la 
mitad.  Sin embargo, la construcción de esta nueva carretera a tenido impacto 
sobre los mangles, las áreas pantanosas y las áreas que bordean la playa las 
cuales son áreas de hábitat de esta especie.  Los pescadores de esta especie 
están reportando que se les hace más difícil encontrar cangrejos.  La merma de 
esta pesquería representa otro ejemplo del impacto negativo a causa del 
desarrollo a los valiosos recursos naturales, sustituyendo los valores económi-
cos de un sector de la sociedad a otro. 
 
PALABRAS CLAVES: Cardisoma, Jamaica, hábitat esencial 
 
  
INTRODUCTION 
The government of Jamaica embarked on construction of a north coast 
road improvement program in 2001 between the tourist centers of Negril, 
Montego Bay and Ocho Rios.  By straightening, grading, widening and 
providing a smooth road surface traveling time will be greatly reduced. 
However, one of the consequences of this on-going effort is the filling in of 
more wetland and the further destruction of mangroves. 
Mangrove forests once covered some 75 percent of the coastlines of 
tropical and sub-tropical countries, but some 35 percent of the world's 
mangroves are already gone.  In the Americas, mangrove forests are being 
cleared at a faster rate than the tropical rainforests.  These mangroves and 
adjacent lands are important habitats for many land crabs. 
This paper will examine the effect that the road improvement program is 
having on coastal wetlands and mangrove communities and the land crab 
fishery. 
 
The Fishery 
Land crabs, (Cardisoma guanhumi) (termed pond crabs by British Virgin 
Islanders and jueyes by people from Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo) are gray 
crabs that live in a network of holes found in low-lying areas near mangrove 
  Quinn, N.J. GCFI:57   (2006) Page 695  
 
swamps, salt ponds, wetlands and marshes.  These crabs are traditionally 
harvested by people inhabiting coastal areas throughout the Caribbean.  In 
Jamaica, the crab fishery requires no boats, no seamanship skills, and no 
special equipment - only a bag, some twine, a glass bottle, kerosene, and a rag. 
It is Jamaica’s most socially universal fishery with boys, women, and men all 
participating. 
Although the fishery is common around Jamaica, there are no published 
reports documenting it.  It is also ignored in commercial fisheries reports for 
the US Virgin Islands (Kojis 2004) or only briefly mentioned in Puerto Rico 
fisheries reports where it is and not considered a significant fisheries species, 
although 6,327 lbs were recorded landed in Puerto in 2001 (Matos-Caraballo 
(2004). 
Between March and August, numerous land crabs leave their burrows at 
night to mate and feed.  May appears to be the main month of this nighttime 
activity.  It is also often the month with the highest rainfall as the inter-tropical 
convergence zone passes over Jamaica at this time. 
The crabs emerge from their burrows mainly at night to feed and mate. 
Crab hunting usually takes place on the waning moon when the moon rises 
late. Groups of boys, women, and men search at night with flaming torches for 
crabs which are caught by hand.  Catching crabs at night is called "torching," a 
name which comes from the days before kerosene bottles were used instead. 
Then torches were made out of an oily wood, aptly named torchwood or in 
later years would be made out of a piece of cut up truck or automobile tire tied 
to a stick.  Today, the torch is commonly kerosene in an old bottle blocked by 
an old rag. The use of flashlight is uncommon. 
 
 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
Thirty two people out collecting crabs were surveyed between March and 
July 2004.  They were asked several questions about the duration of their 
effort, the number of crabs they had caught and were expecting to catch. 
Ethnographic interviews were conducted with ten older fishers.  They were 
asked if they thought it was easier to find crabs now than before.  Random 
surveys of roadside vendors were used to assess the cost of road side sales. 
A total of 22 crabs (14 male and 8 female) were weighed and carapace 
width measured using a vernier calipers. 
The road from the Montego Bay airport to Ocho Rios was driven and 
qualitative observations were made at locations where road construction was 
having the greatest impact on crab habitats and mangrove communities. 
 
 
RESULTS 
The typical catch during a “fishing trip” of two to four hours is 18 - 80 
crabs by a group of 2 - 7 people.  Crab fishers are not usually reef fishers.  
They are typically youth and a few solitary “old timers”.  Occasionally, people 
in cars would be cruising the back roads looking for crabs to catch.  The crabs 
are caught along roads bordering low lying coastal areas and wetlands.  They 
are sold along the road alive for about $J500 to $J800 (J$62 = US$1.00 Nov. 
Page 696                 57th Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute  
 
2004) for eight to a dozen crabs.  Females are smaller and more are required to 
make a saleable bundle.  Although gravid females were observed being caught, 
they were not observed being sold.  The crabs can reach 15cm in carapace 
width, but the mean size measured was 9.1cm for males and 8.4cm for females. 
The power relationship was significant for both male (Figure 1) and for female 
crabs (Figure 2). 
Figure 1:  Length weight relationship for male crabs. N = 14. 
Figure 2:  Length weight relationship for female crabs. N = 8.  
 
y = 0.2406x3.2771
R2 = 0.9344
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
7 8 9 10 11 12
Length (cm)
W
ei
gh
t (
g)
y = 0.2944x3.1874
R2 = 0.9741
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
7 8 9 10 11 12
Length (cm)
W
ei
gh
t (
g)
  Quinn, N.J. GCFI:57   (2006) Page 697  
 
 
DISCUSSION 
Until the construction of the north coast highway linking Montego Bay 
with the northern Jamaican tourist destination town of Ocho fishers stated that 
there was no sign of declining catches.  However, fishers are reporting it is 
harder to find crabs as there is less essential habitat as the construction of the 
road further destroys mangrove communities, shore line habitats, wetlands, and 
essential habitat for the land crab and further reduces the already diminished 
nursery capability of along the north coast of Jamaica (Quinn and Kojis 2004).  
A socio economic comparison between the crab fishery and reef fishery is 
difficult. The reef fishery is centered on a specific beach where the fishers 
return and their catch can be counted, measured and weighed – usually in the 
daytime.  In contrast, there are diffuse groups of crab fishers and it not possible 
to survey all or be there to survey their catch at the end of a fishing trip. It is 
estimated that during the initial weeks of the crab season a person will earn 
between US$15 and US$40 per collecting expedition.  Per person return 
diminished with larger groups. The net value to a crab fisher is higher than 
typical reef fishers who must venture out for longer periods with a higher 
capital investment to catch dwindling catches and then sell the fish before they 
go bad. 
While the market price of the crabs varies seasonally with their availabil-
ity, the crabs do not quickly perish and can be sold several weeks after they 
were caught. In contrast the reef fish are not iced and must be sold that day. In 
2001, Sary et al (2003) estimated that the reef fisher earned between US$13 
(line fishing) and US$29 (trap fishing) per trip. The figure does not include the 
substantial start up costs which range from US$800 to US$8000, depending 
upon whether a new or second hand boat and engine are bought (Polunin et al, 
2000). 
Networks of marine protected areas work for people, fish and crabs. More 
are needed and should include coastal wetlands to help safeguard biodiversity 
and secure food resources.  However, the protection of essential habitat is not 
enough.  The land crab is over exploited on some islands of the Caribbean. 
Puerto Rico has adopted management measure for crabs that include minimum 
size, closed areas in territory controlled land, closed season from July 15 to 
October 15, gear restrictions, and export report requirements. 
The establishment of fisheries management regulations is hampered by 
enforcement difficulties.  In a country where homicides and violent crimes are 
at record highs, there is little support for the implementation and enforcement 
of fishery regulations.  Most of the fishers are underemployed youth and would 
not be able to pay fines.  However, a set of management guidelines with an 
environmental awareness program is advised.  Fishers should recognize that 
they should not take juvenile crabs or crabs bearing eggs.  Meetings with 
fishers and school youth are advised.  
For centuries mangrove forests were considered by many as useless 
swamps, and many mangroves have been cleared to make way for develop-
ment.  This attitude has not changed in Jamaica as roads are constructed to 
facilitate the movement of people from the Montego Bay airport to tourist 
centers.  While an environmental assessment was completed and the requisite 
Page 698                 57th Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute  
 
culverts installed to meet the reporting standards, the net effect is a loss of 
essential crab habitat.  This fishery represents another example how valuable 
sustainable natural resources are being diminished in trade-offs that shift 
economic value from the subsistence sector of society to other sectors of 
Jamaican society. 
 
 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
I would like to gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the crab fishers in 
Discovery Bay and Rio Bueno. This is DBML publication #698. Support for 
the project was received from the Tropical Discovery Fund. B.L. Kojis kindly 
reviewed the manuscript. 
 
 
LITERATURE CITED 
Kojis, B.L. 2004.  Census of the Marine Commercial Fishers of the U.S. Virgin 
Islands. Department of Planning and Natural Resources, Division of Fish 
and Wildlife, US Virgin Islands. 87 pp. 
Matos-Caraballo D. 2004.  Overview of Puerto Rico’s small-scale fisheries 
statistics 1998-2001. Proceedings of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries 
Institute 55:103-118. 
Polunin, N.V.C., I.D. Williams, J.G. Carrier, and L.F. Robinson. [2000]. 
Ecological and social impacts in planning Caribbean marine reserves. 
Department of Marine Sciences, University of Newcastle, United King-
dom. Unpubl. MS. 37 pp.  
Quinn, N.J. and B.L. Kojis. 2004. Biological evidence of diminished nursery 
capability in Discovery Bay, Jamaica. Proceedings of the Gulf and 
Caribbean Fisheries Institute 55:735-743. 


Montego Bay to Ocho Rios in one hour at the cost of essential fish habitat

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Montego Bay to Ocho Rios in one hour at the cost of essential fish habitat

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