Summary

Origin of Yeongdeok snow crab


There are two opinions about the origin of snow crab.
One is snow crab was served to the King Taejo of Goryo dynasty (AD 940 years) when he made a first inspections the area of Yeonghae, and after that Yesu-busa named the village when he made first round of inspections of the village that was well known snow crab.
The other story is when the early years of the Joseon dynasty, it was served as a special product , and his face got dirty after eating because of crab meat.
Accordingly, the courtiers didn't serve snow crab but the king reminded the taste of snow crab and ordered to find that.
At the end of a long time, it was found from Yeongdeok-gun, Chuksan-myeon of the east coast .
At that time, the courtier asked the name of snow crab but the fisher couldn't answer for that.
So it was named as "Uengi" that means of big huge worm.

There was another opinion to call "Jukchim" or "Jukyukchoneo", but it named "Jukhae" finally.
"Jukhae" means the legs of snow crab look like a long bamboo which has a joint and straight long leg.
From now on, Yeongdeok snow crab will be managed as a special product with pride.


Literature and proverb

According to the literature "the local products part" of "sinseungkgukdongjiyeojiseungram" in 1530 (Jungjong 25years), there are 71 villages in Joseon, but the crab which were caught from there were presumed to be kind of land crab in fresh water, and snow crab of present were caught in 11villages of Gyeongsang, Gangwon and Hamgyeong.
Especially the name of Yeongdeok and Yeonghae were in the 11 villages, so it can be an evidence according to the literature.
There are the other stories in the "Dongeuibogam"(Gwanghaegun 5 years/1614) by Heo jun, according to the book it has 8 legs and two of them are claws.
It is also called "Bangge" because it walks to the direction of its side and they slip its skin 2times in late summer and early winter.

In "Jibongyuseol" by Yi sugwang( Gwanghaegun 6years/1614), crab shells can break by the person's hand, so it was described as "Hae" which mean break.
There are a lot of stories such as How long to keep the crab, how to make a Crab in Soy Sauce Seasoning ,steamed snow crab and a variety of foods, in "Gyuhapchonseo," by "Bingheogak Yi" in 1809.

Since then, it was explained as "Haegakpo" in the collection of poems "Haedongjukji" by Choe Young-Nyeon(1856~1935) the scholar in Joseon period.
He said " It is the best quality Haegakpo which is produced in the east coust".
Such information usually helps the basis of literature that Yeongdeok is origin of snow crab.

Yeongdeok snow crab were characterized by the natural environment in the clean sea of Yeongdeook.
It is high quality due to the living plankton and other prey of the coastal area of Yeongdeok so we can take its nourishment indirectly.

Yeongdeok snow crab had given a big impact on local income from 30~40 years ago.
But the various conditions such as resource management,product management and promotion were so vulnerable to distribute snow crab.
Besides, the technology of print culture couldn't help that situation.
In the early 1900s, Korea's fishing industry had depended on the coastal fishery with non-motorized fishing boats, but fishery resources of the east coast were fairly plentiful.
At that time, the industrialization bases of the fishery pruducts were composed earlier in Hamgyeongnamdo Shinpo and Hangyeongbukdo Cheongjin of North Korea rather than the East Coast region of South Korea.
The fishery products processing industry for the trade with Japan had been started and
the largest share of that is the canning business.

Looking at the performance of the canned products from April 1928 to April 1929 had reached about 50,000 boxes and the output of canned marine products which were exported abroad was about 1.8 million won for the value of that time.
It was 60% of the canned crab from the total output of the canned fishery products according to the statistics and that showed snow crab were very valuable source of income.
Also, it was mostly canned crab according to the performance of the export of canned product except for one kind of canned abalone 250,000 won.
Thus, it was the only item that could control the balance of international trading for the fish workers who relied on the domestic market.
The canning industry of snow crab that were forming an greater part of the fishery industry at that time because in the out of snow crab season they could process sardines or mackerel.
Compare to the present time fishery industry had lagged behind including fishing boat,tools and market, although the period of catch was limited to species, the snow crab were caught in large quantities everyday without special skills

Yeongdeok was distinguished from the other fishing villlages because there are two canning factories of "Ganggu" and "Chuksan" in Gyeongbuk Yeongdeok which was built in 1927. It was the only place that could process snow crab.
Snow crab were distributed to Daegu, Pohang,Andong, and Seoul from Uljin area, but the transportation conditions were terrible enough to detract its value in the 1930's.
On the contrary to this, Ganggu port was famous for an important traffic center of fishery products distribution.
Yeongdeok snow crab is written in "Jukhae", but "Jahe" was caught from Uljin according to the "Yeongdeoksaji" .
It was probably put an appearance ahead of a biological classification.
The authorities are trying to make a various regulations and improve management methods of snow crab as a competitive goods.
The production of snow crab is insufficient to meet the demands, therefore we also have to create significant added value by a reasonable price, continuous attention, and management.


Classification of snow crab

It belongs to Chionoecetes opilio and that is distributed in the northern cold water area of the world.
They have 8 long straight legs and 2species including red snow crab are caught in Korea.
The best products of snow crab were caught in front of the sea of Ganggu and Chunsan of Yeongdeok from March-April due to clean sand of the bottom


Snow crab's carapace is a round triangler shape and the width is wider than length.
There are small thorns about 15~20pieces on the edge and claws are longer than the other legs, males are bigger than females.
Walking legs are flat, the first and second legs are long and little thick, the third leg is short than them, the forth leg is very short and thin.
Snow crab's color is orange or pale brown. Besides, they are distributed in Okhotsk Sea, Kamchatka, the Bering Sea, Alaska,the west coast of North America and Greenland, but generally, the east coast of Korea and the continental shelf 200~400m in depth of the west coast of the Japanese Islands.


Distribution and habitat

Snow crab ranges the east coast of nothern Gyeongbuk, mostly Hamgyeongbukdo, and it also lives in Hwadohaksan,Hamgyeong,Dongyanghwa and Yangdo.
In Japan, they are caugt from bukyuksaneum of the northwest coast, in a quantitative respect they are caught from the cold water area of Noudou west island.
Besides, they are distributed in Okhotsk Sea, Kamchatka, the Bering Sea, Alaska,the west coast of North America and Greenland, but generally, the east coast of Korea and the continental shelf 200~400m in depth of the west coast of the Japanese Islands.
They live on the sand or clay bottom, 200~400m in depth, and under 3℃ celsius.
Generally, habitats of male and female are separated each other, females and babies live on the slope of 200~300m in depth.
Large males inhabit in the depth of 60 meters, especially there are cross breeds of snow crab and red crab in the depth of 400~600m.

Natural cross breeds are not born in second generation, but it is not accurate according to some species.
The environment of inhabitation is 0℃~3℃ in celsius cold water and snow crab has little resistance to high degree.
Snow crab's favorite foods are other species of crabs, shrimps, squid, octopus and lug worms
The growth of crab

Snow crab's size is based on the width of carapace.
Males are about 6.6cm and females are about 6.3cm, but according to the depth of water and species they grow almost 18~20cm for male and 10~20cm for female.
Female snow crab is called "Ppangge" due to the shape and it is half size of male .
It has eggs on its stomach until incubation for a year.
They spent a lot of energy for reproduction, and it is the main cause of its small size.


The average life span of snow crab is 9~12years for female and male lives 2~3 more years.
They breed in a depth of 70~90cm from January to February at first time.
After that, they breed around a depth of 180m from March to April.
It takes 40~45min to mate and they spawn of 0.99~1.11mm after 1~2hours from February to May
Spawn's embryo appears after 155days of the birth and it takes 12~18month for boarding of eggs at the first time
From the second time, it takes about 12month and snow crab proliferates continuously due to a large amount of spawn.
The protection period regulation is appropriate measure to save snow crab during spawning season.


Snow crab take off the skin 15 to 17 times while throughout the lifetime.
The snow crab is calld "Hutge" which is caught before it shed its skin in Yeongdeok area.
"Hutge" is treated as special food for health and it is usually eaten raw.
Laval stage of snow crab has 2 stages of zoea and go through megalops stage
finally it becomes baby crab.
It takes 2 years from spawning and incubation and repeat on a yearly basis.
? snow crab fishing

It is regulated by EEZ according to the Korean-Japanese Fisheries Agreement.
And it is important to know the amount of fish caught,ecology, and distribution of fishing grounds.
Recently, the fishing grounds of Korea are devided and reduced by EEZ of bordering countries.
Therefore, we have to protect our fishing grounds more aggressively.
The demand of snow crab continues to increase but the resources are being exhausted.

Based on the background of the times we are trying to make Youngdeok snow crab as the luxury local product.
Now many Youngdeok snow crab shops are formed in the street.
Youngdeok snow crabs are continued decreasing because consumers are increased Therefore, It should be sustained the attitude for protecting Yeongdeok snow crab .

In Korea, fisheries territories enacted and take the ban "trapping 9cm in length and females are prohibited from June 1 to November 31".
Who violate the regulations of prohibition period can be imprisoned and fined 3 million won.
Who violate the regulations of female capture prohibition will be fined more than 2 million won.
But, it is hard to supervise the front lines therefore, voluntary cooperation and participation of local people are need to conserve aquatic resources.

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