The swimming crab fishery is one of the most important
small-scale fisheries in Thailand. There are many fishing
communities in the country that play an important economic
role by contributing to the domestic seafood market. Fishing
also allows the people in coastal communities to keep their
traditional way of life, an element that is diminishing in many
societies. Because of its high market price, the swimming
crab stock has been heavily exploited. Most of the smallscale
fishers have noticed and complained that both catch
rate and size of individuals of this species have drastically
declined over time. Although fishing has been suspected as
the main cause of such reductions, no one has investigated if,
or how, the fishery has impacted the swimming crab population.