U.S. Customs warns of major fines for Mitten Crab

With live Chinese Mitten Crab retailing for around $50 each, the U.S. Customs Department is warning of major fines of up to $10,000 for those caught smuggling the illegal seafood into the United States, reports thepaper.cn.

135 Chinese Mitten Crabs seized in the US-midwest state of Indiana by U.S. Customs in September. [Photo: thepaper.cn]

Chinese Mitten Crab is considered an invasive species in the United States. As such, many east coast U.S. states completely forbid the import of Mitten Crab, alive or frozen. Only a handful of U.S. states allow the import of frozen Mitten Crab.

Visitors eat Mitten Crabs in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, November 2, 2018. Jiangsu is famous for its Yangcheng Lake Chinese Mitten Crabs. [Photo: VCG]

"October to December is the peak season for smuggling Chinese Mitten Crab into the United States," thepaper.cn article quotes an unidentified U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent. "Last year, Kennedy International Airport in New York hunted down and seized five of six batches of the crabs from China, with each batch containing 50 to 500 crabs. Since September, Customs has seized several Chinese passengers smuggling crabs, with more than 400 kilograms ferreted out at a time. At the end of October, a Chinese man was fined $10,000 for 108 crabs found in his luggage. According to him, these crabs were originally intended to be sold in family-run stores," said the Customs agent.

Undated photo showing US warning about the import of Chinese Mitten Crab, which can include a fine up up to $10,000. [Photo: mittencrab.nisbase.org]

U.S. authorities are concerned about the release of Chinese Mitten Crab into the local environment. Aquaculture experts say the crabs not only fight for resources with local crabs, such as Blue Crabs, but are also blamed for eating the catch of local fishermen. In addition, Chinese Mitten Crabs have been blamed for destroying river banks and blocking hydroelectric power stations.