Russia’s Booming Trade in Illegally Caught Crab Threatens the Species’ Future

Originally posted on thekirkshow:

Have you been eating “laundered crab”?

You might be, according to a World Wildlife Fund report that found the illegal overharvesting of king crabs and snow crabs is damaging the global economy and local ecosystems.

The report, Illegal Russian Crab: An investigation of trade flow found illegally caught crab from Russia is regularly sold to the United States and other countries. Exporters falsify shipping records, mislabel the crabs, or transport the crustaceans to another country for reshipment to their final destination to hide the seafood’s origins, according to the WWF.

That’s having a direct effect on ecosystems in the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk—home to roughly half the annual seafood catch for both Russia and the United States—and putting crab stocks at risk of collapse.

“Over the past decade, the level of overharvest due to illegal crab harvesting was two to four times the legal limit, causing grave…

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