Editing Cancer pagurus (section)

==Fishery==
[[File:Lindisfarne Lobster Pots.JPG|thumb|left|Crab pots, [[Lindisfarne]], [[North Sea]]]]
''C. pagurus'' is heavily [[Crab fisheries|exploited commercially]] throughout its range, being the most commercially important crab species in Western Europe.<ref name="ARKive"/> The crabs are caught using crab pots (similar to [[lobster trap|lobster pots]]), also known as creels, which are placed offshore and baited.<ref name="ARKive"/> The catch of ''C. pagurus'' has increased steadily, rising from 26,000&nbsp;tonnes in 1978 to 60,000&nbsp;t in 2007, of which more than 70% was caught around the [[British Isles]].<ref name="Seafish"/> The fishery is widely dispersed around the British and Irish coasts, and ''C. pagurus'' is thought to be [[overfishing|overfished]] across much of this area.<ref name="Seafish"/> Most of the edible crabs caught by the British fleet are exported live for sale in [[France]] and [[Spain]].<ref name="sourcing">{{cite web |url=http://www.seafish.org/pdf.pl?file=seafish/Documents/SeafishResponsibleSourcingGuide_CrabsLobsters.pdf |title=Responsible Sourcing Guide: Crabs & Lobsters |publisher=[[Sea Fish Industry Authority]] |date=August 2, 2009}}</ref>

A number of legal restrictions apply to the catching of ''C. pagurus''. Catching "berried" crabs (females carrying eggs) is illegal,<ref name="ARKive"/> but since ovigerous females remain in pits dug in the sediment and do not feed, fishing pressure does not affect the supply of larvae.<ref name="BIOTIC"/> [[Minimum landing size]]s (MLSs) for ''C. pagurus'' are set by both the [[European Union]] technical regulations and by the [[Government of the United Kingdom|UK government]].<ref name="Seafish">{{cite book |title=Future Management of Brown Crab in the UK and Ireland (IPF_D123) |series=Seafish Report No. SR633 |publisher=[[Sea Fish Industry Authority]] |author=Nautilus Consultants |date=December 2009 |isbn=978-1-906634-36-0 |url=http://www.seafish.org/pdf.pl?file=seafish/Documents/SR633_NautilusBrownCrabManagement_D123_Final.pdf }}</ref> Different minimum sizes are employed in different geographical areas, to reflect differences in the crab's growth rate across its range.<ref name="Seafish"/> In particular, the "[[Cromer]] crab" fishery along the coasts of [[Suffolk]], [[Norfolk]] and [[Lincolnshire]] is subject to an MLS of {{convert|115|mm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}}, rather than the {{convert|140|mm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}} MLS in most of the species' range. An intermediate value of {{convert|130|mm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}} is used in the rest of the North Sea between the [[56th parallel north|56°N]] and the [[Essex]]–[[Kent]] border, and in the [[Irish Sea]] south of [[55th parallel north|55°N]]. Around [[Devon]], [[Cornwall]], and the [[Isles of Scilly]], the MLS for males is different  ({{convert|160|mm|in|frac=8|abbr=on|disp=or}}) from females ({{convert|140|mm|in|frac=8|abbr=on|disp=or}}).<ref name="Seafish"/> The Norwegian catch is 8,500 tons annually, compared to 20,000 tons in the United Kingdom, 13,000 tons in Ireland, 8,500 tons in France, and a total 45,000 tons globally.<ref>{{cite web |title=Taskekrabbe |trans-title=Edible crab |language=no |url=http://www.imr.no/__data/page/8431/2.7_Taskekrabbe.pdf |author=Knut Sunnanå |publisher=[[Norwegian Institute of Marine Research]] }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Recent studies have shown that edible crabs are negatively affected by electromagnetic fields  emitted from sub-sea power cables around offshore wind farms.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2018-06-01|title=Understanding the effects of electromagnetic field emissions from Marine Renewable Energy Devices (MREDs) on the commercially important edible crab, Cancer pagurus (L.)|journal=Marine Pollution Bulletin|language=en|volume=131|issue=Pt A|pages=580–588|doi=10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.04.062|pmid=29886985|issn=0025-326X|last1=Scott|first1=Kevin|last2=Harsanyi|first2=Petra|last3=Lyndon|first3=Alastair R.|s2cid=47007844 }}</ref>