Crab populations in Thailand replenished with crab condominium

Blue swimmer crabs were once plentiful in the Gulf of Thailand. But their numbers dwindled as overfishing took its toll. Fisherman could no longer make as much money, while crabs became too pricey for locals to eat.

Enter the crab condominium where small plastic boxes are designed to shelter pregnant crabs.

Before using this technique, fishermen were only catching about 2 kilogrammes of crab per day and that has gone up about five times now.

This idea was the brainchild of a local fisherman. He thought of it while looking back at the shore.

Khak Silapachai, fisherman and inventor, said: "Foreigners live in condominiums here. So I thought if humans can live in condominiums, why not crabs? So the local governor and I came up with the idea of an underwater crab condominium.

"I didn't expect it to get so famous. I just wanted to do something useful. But maybe it's catching on because of the catchy name - crab condominium."

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