Green crab is a specialty of Sanmen county in Zhejiang province in southern China, and has successfully settled in Dongying city of East China's Shandong province.
The crabs thrive in water temperatures between 15 and 31 degrees Celsius and in salinities ranging from 2.6 percent to 55 percent. At the breeding base, seawater from Guangli Port is mixed with water from the Yellow River, achieving a salinity of about 15 percent. Crabs raised in this environment are not only firm but also sweet and rich in flavor.
According to the head of a local agricultural company, they began exploring Sanmen green crab farming in April 2020, but found that despite the low cost of trucking, the longer transit time resulted in a survival rate of only 20 percent.
Afterward, the company's technical team communicated with other aquaculture farmers and decided to switch to air transport. This much faster trip increased the survival rate to over 50 percent.
After more than five years of improvements, the company has successfully introduced Sanmen green crabs to Dongying and supported over 20 surrounding aquaculture farms. The "company + aquaculture base + farmers" development model has gradually led to concentrated farming in the area and brought about the city's first 10,000-mu (666.67 hectares) Sanmen green crab breeding base.
Around this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, large-scale harvesting of the crabs began. At the Dongying breeding base, many experts from Sanmen county, Zhejiang were present. Local farmers frequently exchanged knowledge with them, and with their support and advanced techniques, profits have become increasingly substantial.
